The finding by Emil Fischer that glucose and fructose on treatment with phenylhydrazine gave the identical osazone led him to the elucidation of stereochemistry of carbohydrates. Since then, progress in the field of carbohydrates has been amazing with the unraveling their basic structure, biosynthesis, immunology, functions, and clinical uses, for pure carbohydrates and for protein-linked carbohydrates (glycoproteins and proteoglycans).

The chapters in Carbohydrate Chemistry, Biology and Medical Applications present a logical sequence leading from the chemistry and...