Chemistry and Technology of Plant Substances ─ Chemical and Biochemical Aspects

Chemistry and Technology of Plant Substances: Chemical and Biochemical Aspects demonstrates the progress and promise of developing new chemical substances from renewable sources of chemical raw materials. The volume brings together new achievements in the field of research and processing of plant raw materials and the synthesis of natural compounds for the production of biologically active substances and drugs. The volume looks closely at the rational use of renewable raw materials, which is the source of new compounds and intermediates for the chemical industry. It covers a wide range of problems associated with the use of the components of plants to produce new substances with a wide variety of purposes.

According to the latest estimates, plants form about a million chemical substances. In some cases, plant products have pharmacological or biological activity that can be of therapeutic benefit in treating diseases. Furthermore, because of the structural diversity of natural products exceeds that readily achievable by chemical synthesis and synthetic analogs can be prepared with improved potency and safety. Plant materials are often used as starting points for drug discovery. Chemistry and Technology of Plant Substances: Chemical and Biochemical Aspects presents the theoretical trends and recent practical achievements on complex processing of plant-based raw materials. Low molecular weight components, isolated from plant material, are widely used in fine organic synthesis. High molecular weight polysaccharides of conifers and other greens, such as pectin and hemicellulose, are the basis for the creation of anticoagulants and other drugs. The range of research papers presented in the book is quite wide: from fundamental and applied problems of wood chemistry and organic synthesis to biological activity of natural compounds.

The book provides valuable information for those skilled in organic chemistry, chemical engineers, researchers and scientists as well as for faculty and upper-level students.

With research and studies from prominent scientists in the fields of biological, organic, and inorganic chemistry who have the practical achievements in practice, this volume is the initiative of the Emanuel Institute of Biochemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences and the Komi Chemistry Institute of Scientific Centre of Ural branch of Russian Academy of Sciences.

Aleksander V. Kutchin, DSc in Chemistry, is a Professor of Organic Chemistry and a Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences as well as Director of the Institute of Chemistry of Komi Scientific Center of Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences. He is a leading expert in the field of organic and organometallic synthesis, chemistry, and technology of natural compounds. is the founder of the recognized scientific school "Scientific bases of chemistry and technologies complex processing of vegetal raw material," established in 1994. He has received several honors and awards, including the Nesmeyanov RAS Prize; the Academician I. Ya. Postovskiy Prize; the Order of "For Merit for the Motherland"; the Order of Friendship (Russian Federation); the Sorokin Award issued by the Komi Republic Government, and the Komi Republic Government Award for Contribution to the Field of Science Research (Russian Federation). He has published over 700 scientific papers, including many articles and patents. He is a member of the editorial boards of the journals Russian Chemical Bulletin and Chemistry of Plant Raw Material. His field of interest includes organic synthesis, asymmetric synthesis, chemistry of natural compounds, medicinal chemistry, and biotechnology.

Lyudmila N. Shishkina, DSc in Chemistry, is a Professor of Biophysics and Head of Department of Physicochemical Problems in Radiobiology and Ecology at the Emanuel Institute of Biochemical Physics of Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia. She is also a member of the Scientific Counsel of the Russian Academy of Sciences on Radiobiology. She is laureate of the medal "In Memory of Academician N. M. Emanuel" for achievements in chemical and biochemical physics. She has given several invited lectures and oral presentations at different international conferences. Her work includes over 200 research publications in different leading Russian and international journals and textbooks, two monographs, and several author certifications. Her fields of interest include biochemical physics, chemical kinetics, regulation of oxidation processes in systems of different complexity, radiobiology, and physicochemical ecology.

Larissa I. Weisfeld, PhD, is a senior researcher at the Emanuel Institute of Biochemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia; a member of the All-Russia Vavilov Society of Geneticists and Breeders; the author of about 300 publications in scientific journals as well as several patents and conference proceedings; and the co-author of publications on three new cultivars of winter wheat. Her main field of interest concerns basic problems of chemical mutagenesis, mutational selection, and the mechanism of action of para-amonobensoic acid. She has worked as a scientific editor in the publishing house Nauka (Moscow) and in the journals Genetics and Ontogenesis. She has co-edited several books with APP, including Ecological Consequences of Increasing Crop Productivity: Plant Breeding and Biotic Diversity; Biological Systems, Biodiversity, and Stability of Plant Communities; Temperate Crop Science and Breeding: Ecological and Genetic Study; and Heavy Metals and Other Pollutants in the Environment: Biological Aspects.