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Publisher Summary The purification of naturally occurring biomaterials in early days was restricted to isolation and purification of so called natural products. The area was dominated by organic chemists who were using crystallization and distillation to purify plant extracts. The advent of chromatographic techniques using materials like silica and alumina created much excitement as the resolving power of these techniques was far superior. Tannins, alkaloids and terpenoids are some of the important classes whose purification yielded very useful information. As biochemistry and microbiology developed, carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, nucleic acids became attractive target classes of molecules for separation. Microbial fermentation became an important starting point for obtaining diverse classes of compounds which included vitamins and antibiotics. Recombinant organisms, once the technology became available, became a favorite source of biomaterials especially proteins. Metabolic Engineering is also emerging as a powerful a tool to produce secondary metabolites. Tissue culture techniques also made it possible to obtain a wide variety of products. The result was that with so many upstream strategies available, the classical purification approaches were perceived to be slow, inefficient and on the whole inadequate. Many new versions of chromatography were soon developed. Today, purification of naturally occurring biomaterials is one of the most complex areas in chemical and life sciences. This chapter provides an overview of what is available to people wishing to purify a particular class of compound. |
