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Concerned with discovering the chemical pathways of biosynthesis, this book devotes four chapters to the use of isotopes in biosynthetic research and the biosynthesis of enzyme cofactors and vitamin B12 and of reduced polyketides such as erythromycin.

The first review in this book presents synthetic strategies, biosynthesis and the genetics involved. The second review article, on non-template based multienzyme systems, addresses why polyketides are the most diverse group of natural products, comparing polyketide syntheses with other non-template multienzyme systems.

This volume recapitulates the state of the art in those sectors of bioorganic chemistry that, rather than mimick the natural example, aim to utilize the underlying principles for useful applications.

They cover the whole spectrum from the discovery of novel enzymes - by modern screening, evolutionary or immunological approaches - through immobilization techniques for technical processes, to their use in the asymmetric synthesis of important target compounds.

Whereas the hydrolases such as proteases, esterases and lipases are sufficiently well researched to be applied in every standard laboratory, other types of enzymes are still waiting to be discovered with respect to their applicability in organic-chemistry transformations on a preparative scale.

This book presents the state of the art in the synthesis very complex saccharide structures, written by leading scientists at the forefront of this rapidly growing field.

"WHAT DOES NOT NEED TO BE BIG, WILL BE SMALL", a word by an engineer at a recent conference on chips technology. The engineering of micron and submicron sized features on the surface of silicon, glass and polymers opens a whole new world. An engineer, a chemist or a biologist will find new impulses from the various chapters in this book.