Recent publication of Halstead's three-volume treatise, "Poisonous and
Venomous Marine Animals," of Baslow's, "Marine Pharmacology," and of
Martin's two-volume "Marine Chemistry" attests to a heightened interest in
the marine environment by the scientific community. Many factors have
contributed to this surge of activity, but two are perhaps of critical importance
to the subject matter of this book. One of the factors lies in the vastly
improved accessibility of many ocean areas of the world. Second, our research
tools of the past ten years or so have enabled us to carry out separations of
complex mixtures, to perform structural determinations on tiny amounts of
material, and to do so much more rapidly than was the case even fifteen years
ago. Interest in studying and in preserving the marine environment is particularly
great among today's high school and college-age population. If this
interest is to be translated into a lasting impact by kindling new scholarship,
today's teachers need the necessary resources to sustain their students' interest.
In the area of structural organic chemistry pertaining to the marine
environment, no monograph currently in print gathers and evaluates the
state of our knowledge in this field. There are a few highly specialized short
review articles, but none of a comprehensive nature. As a modest contributor
over the years to the review literature of limited scope, I have come to the
conclusion that a genuine gap exists in the chemical literature dealing with
marine natural products which I hoped to bridge with this book.