The Chemistry of Plant Life

These substances comprise an exceedingly important group of compounds, the members of which constitute the major proportion of the dry matter of plants. The name "carbohydrate"...

Most of the discussions which have been presented in the preceding chapters have dealt with the types of compounds, the kinds of reactions, and the mechanism for the control of...

The characteristic difference between the reactions of inorganic compounds and those of organic substances lies in the rapidity, or velocity, of the chemical changes involved. S...

Reference has frequently been made, in preceding chapters, to the fact that proteins, enzymes, lipoids, etc., exist in the protoplasm of plants and animals in the colloidal cond...

Thus far, we have considered the chemical nature of the various groups of compounds which are found in the tissues of living organisms, laying emphasis upon those which are of p...

Practically all plant structures contain pigments. These may be considered as of two types: (_a_) the vegetative pigments, which have a definite energy-absorbing rôle in the met...

Included in this group are several different kinds of compounds which have similar physical properties, and which, in general, belong to the type of organic compounds known as e...

Strictly speaking, the term _glucoside_ should be applied only to such compounds as contain glucose as the characteristic basic group. But in common usage, it refers to any comp...

The proteins are the most important group of organic components of plants. They constitute the active material of protoplasm, in which all of the chemical changes which go to ma...

There is some confusion in the use of the terms "nutrient," "plant food," etc., as applied to the nutrition and growth of plants. Strictly speaking, these terms ought probably t...

Reference has frequently been made, in preceding chapters, to the effect of various stimulating or inhibiting agencies upon the physiological activities of plant protoplasm. In...

We come, now, to the consideration of the characteristically nitrogenous compounds of plants. None of the groups of compounds which have been considered thus far have, as a grou...

These substances constitute a group of compounds which are very similar to the polysaccharide carbohydrates in composition and constitution, but which serve entirely different p...

Photosynthesis is the process whereby chlorophyll-containing plants, in the presence of sunlight, synthetize organic compounds from water and carbon dioxide. The end-product of...

Using the term in its general application to a group of substances having similar chemical and physical properties, rather than in its limited application to a single definite c...

organic groups. Because of this fact, magnesium-starvation produces etiolated plants, which cannot function normally. Further, magnesium seems to be necessary for the formation...

From the standpoint of their ability to synthetize synergic foods (see page 2) from inorganic raw materials, plants may be divided into two types; namely, the _autotrophic_, or...

Included in this group are all those substances to which the characteristic odors of plants are due, along with others similar in structure and possessing characteristic resinou...

The history of biological science shows that the conceptions which men have held concerning the nature of plant and animal growth have undergone a series of revolutionary change...

Higher members of the formic acid series (as acetic, CH_{3}·COOH; propionic, C_{2}H_{5}·COOH; butyric, C_{3}H_{7}·COOH; etc.) are often found in small quantities in the leaves o...

Organic acids, either in free form, or partially neutralized with calcium, potassium, or sodium, forming acid salts, or combined with various alcohols in the form of esters, are...

General composition; fats and oils, occurrence, chemical constitution, acids which occur in natural fats, alcohols which occur in natural fats, hydrolysis and synthesis of fats,...

Importance, nomenclature, and classification; groups of carbohydrates; isomeric forms of monosaccharides; chemical constitution of monosaccharides; characteristic reactions of h...

"Colloids" and "crystalloids"; the colloidal condition a dispersion phenomenon; nomenclature and classification; conditions necessary to the formation of sols; gel-formation; ge...

Types and classes; the chlorophylls, chemical constitution, similarity of chlorophyll and hæmoglobin, properties of the chlorophylls; the carotinoids, carotin, xanthophyll, lyco...

Definition; general structure; hydrolysis of the natural glucosides; general properties; the phenol glucosides; the alcohol glucosides; the aldehyde glucosides; the oxycumarin g...

Reaction velocities; enzymes as catalysts; general properties; extracellular and intracellular enzymes; chemical nature; nomenclature and classification; occurrence and preparat...

Importance; general composition; amino-acids and peptid units; individual amino-acids; composition of the plant proteins; general properties of proteins; classification; differe...

Definitions; the plant food elements; available and unavailable forms; the value of the different soil elements as plant foods; functions of the different plant food elements in...

Plants as synthetic agents; types of changes involved in plant growth; groups of organic compounds found in plants; physiological use and biological significance defined; physio...

Heterogeneous structure of protoplasm; protoplasm a colloidal gel; water; salts; osmotic pressure; surface boundary phenomena; electrical phenomena; acidity and alkalinity; summ...