Plant chemistry
The plant chemistry in the scientific sense is a part of the biochemistry or botany that deals with the study of the chemical ingredients of a plant. As such, plant chemistry is also known under the term phytochemistry .
Research history
The beginnings of plant chemistry go back to the botanical and chemical investigations and extraction methods of plant ingredients with regard to their use as medicinal products . Vegetable dyes were also extracted and processed in early human history . At the end of the 17th century, the planned research into the ingredients of plants began at the Académie royale des sciences in Paris, founded in 1666 . In addition to squeezing the juice, the repertoire of methods included extracting the substances using solvents and distillation using heat. These processes made it possible to differentiate between different distillation products, such as salts , spiritual essences and oils . In addition, tests were carried out to determine the weight, density and content of the various analysis fractions. In 1784 the chemist Antoine Laurent de Lavoisier became president of the academy. He is considered one of the founders of plant chemistry as an independent discipline.
Important advances in the field of plant chemistry were made through the work of Justus von Liebig . Liebig's Erlangen dissertation from 1823 is entitled On the Relationship between Mineral Chemistry and Plant Chemistry. In Justus Liebig's Annalen der Chemie , important work on the foundation of organic chemistry was published. The metabolic processes taking place in living beings are now dealt with in biochemistry , which is based on organic chemistry. Therefore, there is extensive overlap between plant chemistry and plant biochemistry and plant physiology .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Brockhaus Picture Conversations Lexicon. Volume 3. Leipzig 1839, pp. 479-480 Online at zeno.org .
literature
- Albert Weinlig: The plant chemistry, a manual for doctors and pharmacists. Based in part on Thomson's organic chemistry. Leipzig, 1839.
- L. Reinhold, JB Harborne, T. Swain (Eds.): Progress in Phytochemistry. Oxford / New York / Toronto / Sydney / Paris / Frankfurt am Main 1980.