Foreword 



The impressive advances achieved in fermentation techniques 

 have created new and often highly efficient methods for the 

 synthesis of organic compounds. It seems clear that in addition 

 to antibiotics and steroids, an ever-increasing number of struc- 

 turally less complicated chemicals will be synthesized most eco- 

 nomically by fermentation of abundant starting materials of 

 natural or synthetic origin. 



The purpose of this handbook is to list the source and physi- 

 cal, chemical and physiological properties of metabolic products 

 isolated from bacteria, molds, fungi and lichens. In addition to 

 this collection of facts and references, it contains chapters out- 

 Uning the biogenesis of various structural types elaborated 

 mainly by microorganisms. Although some of our present-day 

 views on biogenetic pathways may have to be revised in the fu- 

 ture, these chapters should prove to be exceedingly helpful not 

 only to chemists working on the structures of new substances 

 but also to biochemists investigating the mode of action of 

 physiologically active compounds. 



There certainly was an urgent need for such a compilation be- 

 cause the original reports are scattered through a wide variety 

 of scientific journals rarely assembled in one place but distrib- 

 uted in chemical, pharmaceutical and medical libraries. It 

 seems highly appropriate that an attempt to cover the literature 

 in this rapidly expanding field should come from the Research 

 Division of Chas. Pfizer & Co., Inc. The group deserves a great 

 deal of credit for pioneering work in industrial fermentation 

 as well as in isolation and structure elucidation of many anti- 

 biotics. 



G. BucHi 



Cambridge, Massachusetts 



