Abstract
ORGANIC chemists have devoted much time and ingenuity to building up the complex products of life ever since Wohler and Liebig first broke down the barrier which had separated them from the artificial products of the laboratory, by their synthesis of urea. Sometimes the problems presented are of a peculiarly baffling nature, and we can only marvel at the astonishing progress which has been made both in unravelling and in reassembling the intricate structures of molecular architecture found in Nature. The prolonged and brilliant researches of Emil Fischer upon sugars, proteins and purines have inspired later workers to engage upon still more elusive problems. In Great Britain, Prof. R. Robinson, of Oxford, has already succeeded in laying bare the constitution of numerous alkaloids, colours and other products of plant life. Among these are the anthocyanins or the pigments of flowers. The rapid growth of this branch of chemistry in recent years is apt to become bewildering to the student. We are therefore indebted to Prof. Robinson for the clear exposition which he gave in his Friday evening discourse on November 15 at the Royal Institution, describing the general lines on which one single investigation was carried out, with the view of illustrating the special technique which has had to be evolved.
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Synthesis of a Natural Colouring Matter. Nature 137, 94–95 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/137094a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/137094a0