Two Decades of Research on Biosynthesis of Saccharides

Our work on the biosynthesis of oligoand polysaccharides started about 1946, not by a deliberate selection of the subject but because it came to us.Due to the phenomenal progress of biochemistry our initial experiments seem to belong to the paleolithic period but fortunately there are also some very re- cent and exciting advances in the field.After returning from Cambridge in 1936 I did some work with J. M. Munioz on the oxidation of fatty acids in liver.We managed to prepare a cell-free sys- tem which was active when suitably sup- plemented and this was a novel result since the process of oxidation was be- lieved to require the integrity of the cells.I suppose the young generation of biochemists finds it hard to understand many of the things which we believed at that time.After that came an incursion into the field of renal hypertension with E.Braun Menendez, J. C.