... DSc at the University of Geneva, Switzerland (1896), chemist and botanist 4 Carbohydrates: The Sweet Molecules of Life Figure Photograph of the Baeyer group in 1878 at the laboratory of the University... CH2OH OH + HO Carbohydrates: The Sweet Molecules of Life Fischer, with interests in chemicals other than carbohydrates, treated a solution of the benzenediazonium ion (the cornerstone of the German... in discussing the chemistry of carbohydrates and then finishes with the main thrust of the book, a compendium of ``building blocks'' derived from carbohydrates for the synthesis of natural products