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The continued active interest in the chemistry of the carbohydrates has provided a wealth of knowledge concerning their detailed structures, their derivatives and their modes of reaction. One of the most significant features of this work has been a realization of the importance of the geometrical conformation of a sugar molecule as a factor in determining the type of chemical reaction it will undergo. These considerations are now known to be of particular importance in biochemical aspects of carbohydrate chemistry as well as in many industrial applications of sugar chemistry, including food technology. In this volume, the authors have provided a succinct account of the fundamental chemistry of the sugars, with special attention to those properties, an understanding of which is necessary in dealing with applications of sugars in fields such as agriculture, botany, medicine, food science and technology. Emphasis has rightly been placed on conformational aspects, and the basic organic chemistry of the sugars has been dealt with in terms of conformational theory. The way is then open for concise, but authoritative chapters dealing with various applications of carbohydrates in biochemistry, medicine and technology. These include accounts of the metabolism of sugars and the part they play in nutrition. Special attention is devoted to problems of taste as exhibited by sugars and their derivatives. In view of their importance in the food industry, browning reactions are discussed at length, and brief accounts are given of fermentation phenomena and of acidic and enzymic hydrolysis of starches in the preparation of glucose syrups. Much of this information is not readily available to the general reader, who will find in the clearly written text, the numerous diagrams and tables and the wealth of references a most useful guide to these important aspects of carbohydrate chemistry