Phytochemistry

The plant chemistry in the scientific sense is a part of biochemistry and botany that deals with the study of the chemical constituents of plants. As such, the plant chemistry is also known under the term Phytochemistry.

History of Research

The beginnings of plant chemistry go back to the botanical and chemical studies and extraction methods of plant constituents with respect to their use as medicaments. Even vegetable dyes were extracted and processed early on in the history of mankind. End of the 17th century began the systematic exploration of the ingredients of the plant, which was founded in 1666 Académie royale des sciences in Paris. The methods repertoire included In addition to pressing the juice extracting the substances by solvent and distillation by heat. This method allowed a distinction between various distillation products such as salts, spiritual essences and oils. In addition, experiments were performed to determine the weight, density, and analysis of the content of the various fractions. 1784, the chemist Antoine Laurent Lavoisier was president of the Academy. He is considered one of the founders of plant chemistry as an independent discipline. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe related end of the 1790s his botanical studies with his work on the theory of color.

Important progress in the field of plant chemistry were made by the work of Justus von Liebig. Liebig Erlanger dissertation from 1823 is titled The ratio of the mineral chemistry to plant chemistry. In Justus Liebigs Annalen der Chemie important work in support of organic chemistry have been published. The processes occurring in living organisms metabolic processes are now treated in biochemistry, based on the organic chemistry. Therefore, there is a major overlap of plant chemistry with biochemistry of plants and plant physiology.