PREFACE 



The invitation to deliver the 1962 Squibb Lectures on 

 Chemistry of Microbial Products was an honor which pro- 

 vided me with a welcome opportunity to summarize our 

 studies dealing with some phases of fatty acid metabolism 

 in microorganisms and to bring them into focus with recent 

 developments. The experimental work has been carried out 

 in the chemistry and biochemistry departments of the Uni- 

 versity of Pittsburgh since 1947. The book is divided into 

 three chapters, which deal, respectively, with the discovery 

 and chemistry of cyclopropane fatty acids, the chemical na- 

 ture of monounsaturated fatty acids in bacteria, the quan- 

 titative estimation of fatty acids in bacterial lipids, the bio- 

 synthesis of the cyclopropane ring, and finally the anaerobic 

 biosynthesis of monounsaturated fatty acids in microorgan- 

 isms. The presentation is critical and influenced by the 

 author's own point of view. No attempt is made to provide 

 a comprehensive summary of the literature, and apologies 



