Carbohydrate Chemistry

'The contributors are the best scientists in the field and the series editor is highly respected. The volumes will ... be of use to undergraduates involved in carbohydrate workshops.'
– Alexei Demchenko, Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Director of Graduate Studies, University of Missouri – St. Louis.

‘This essential book series, focused on carbohydrate synthesis, starts with a dedication to Nobel Laureate Sir John W. Cornforth, who is credited with the first public criticism of what he pictured as ‘pouring a large volume of unpurified sewage into the chemical literature.’1 Unfortunately, this issue is not limited to the field of chemistry as many high profile cases of irreproducible experiments have led to alarms being set off even in the popular press.2 This series then serves as the much-needed water treatment plants – places where the reader can be guaranteed a good clean reproducible experiment. … at least now chemists with or without expertise in carbohydrates can count on finding reliable procedures to make sugar-based compounds at one scale – a major achievement. Not only should current practitioners gain back time lost in attempts to properly reconstruct experimental procedures, but these procedures should also allow more creative scientists to contribute to this growing area.

2. Cornforth JW. Austr. J. Chem. 1993;46:157e70.
4. For example, see Unreliable research: trouble at the lab. Econ. October 19, 2013.’

– Nicola L.B. Pohl, Indiana University, Department of Chemistry, Bloomington, IN, USA, for Carbohydrate Research, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.carres.2015.04.007.