Synopsis top ↑
21st century man uses a wide range of synthetic materials, most of
which were invented and developed just before and after World War II
in the laboratories of chemists and materials scientists. Enormous
progress was made in the fields of plastics, fibers, metal alloys,
ceramics and glasses. SeveraI decades later people realized that those
miracle materials posed new problems in terms of disposal,
incineration and recycling.
Those issues preoccupy the media and politics, but often hide the
simple fact that we still very much depend on natural plant products
that have been discovered and put to use for the benefit of mankind
hundreds if not thousands of years ago. Materials, fibers, elastomers,
hydrocolloids, alcohols, oils, waxes, resins and energy carriers
supplied by plants all too often are taken for granted, as they
seemingly have always been around. Few of us are aware of the fact
that without them, our lives would not only be a lot less comfortable
but downright unthinkable.
For a billion years now, plants have been the direct or at least
indirect precondition of most other forms of life. Plants alone are
capable of synthesizing simple sugars such as glucose from carbon
dioxide and water using solar radiation as the source of energy. This
photosynthesis is the starting point of ten thousands of complex
chemical reactions often also involving nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus,
sulfur and about twenty trace elements, mostly metals. The result is
an extremely diversified set of molecules that are needed for the
intricate chemistry of life.
The author aims to point out how intimately man is linked to the plant
biosphere, even though the vast fields of food and pharmaceuticals
were consciously not considered. He has endeavored to explain the
properties of plant materials and their processing as thoroughly as
possible but in terms that are understandable to the interested
layman. This information is of vital importance: the quality of our
lives, our long-term survival critically depends on protecting the
sources of plant materials that must be used in an intelligent,
sustainable way. This book addresses all those interested in our
natural environment and the plant products nature supplies.