Natural and Laboratory-Simulated Thermal Geochemical Processes compares a series of thermal natural geochemical events with thermally laboratory-simulated processes. The emphasis is on the geothermal events occurring in nature compared with those simulated in the laboratory, thus furnishing important information at the molecular level for such processes. The book covers the following topics:

-Generation of petroleum and its thermal cracking;
-Pyrolysis of oil-shales;
-Formation of coal and its gasification and liquification;
-Thermal liquification of biomass;
-Geothermal energy;
-Thermal generation of fullerenes;
-Thermal formation of diamonds;
-Thermal analysis of organo-clay complexes;
-Geochemical conditions for life emergence.

Glycosides are sugar derivatives in which the hydroxyl (-OH) group attached to carbon 1 is substituted by an alcoholic, phenolic or other groups which are used medicinally for their stimulant effects on the heart. There are a number of glycocides which occur in nature, mainly in plants. These compounds have found importance in therapeutic, nutritional and clinical use because they possess a variety of biological activities. Summarizing significant contemporary information on chemical, nutritional, biological and medicinal aspects of naturally occurring glycosides, this book presents a sequence of chapters that deal with chemical structures, occurrence, biosynthetic and biological activity. It contains: mono- and tri-terpenoid, limonoid, cyanogenic, steroidal, phenolic, cardiac active glycosides, as well as steroidal glycoalkaloids, aminoglycosidic antibiotics, saponins, and glycoproteins and glycolipids. The presence of glycosides and glycoconjugates in animals and micro-organisms is also included.

The Maillard reaction, named after its inventor, Louis-Camille Maillard, refers to reactions between amines and carbonyl compounds. It has been detected in heated, dried and stored foods and in mammalian organisms. It is responsible for changes in the colour and nutritive value of foodstuffs. This volume contains essays on our current understanding of the reaction, including updated reviews on its involvement in the scavenging of oxygen, the thermal generation of aromas, and the mechanistic aspects of free radicals.

Natural and Laboratory-Simulated Thermal Geochemical Processes compares a series of thermal natural geochemical events with thermally laboratory-simulated processes. The emphasis is on the geothermal events occurring in nature compared with those simulated in the laboratory, thus furnishing important information at the molecular level for such processes. The book covers the following topics:

-Generation of petroleum and its thermal cracking;
-Pyrolysis of oil-shales;
-Formation of coal and its gasification and liquification;
-Thermal liquification of biomass;
-Geothermal energy;
-Thermal generation of fullerenes;
-Thermal formation of diamonds;
-Thermal analysis of organo-clay complexes;
-Geochemical conditions for life emergence.

This book updates the academic and industrial scientific community with the fate of organic and inorganic matter in our environment and especially in the geosphere when subjected to thermal treatment under natural and laboratory-simulation processes.
The book is of interest to researchers in chemistry, geology, engineering, petrology, energy, and analytical laboratories, as well as for students specialising in the chemistry of natural products and geochemistry.