Abstract:

This chapter discusses the contribution of Venancio Deulofeu in the field of carbohydrate chemistry. Venancio Deulofeu, first son of Tomás Deulofeu and Camila Gascons, was born on April lst, 1902, in Buenos Aires to a high middle-class family. Between 1914 and 1919, the young Venancio attended an official secondary school. In 1923, while studying for his degree, he was invited by Prof. A. Sordelli to collaborate in investigations on the isolation and purification of bovine insulin, which were being performed at the Instituto Bacteriologico. Deulofeu's stay at this institute influenced his temperament and aroused his taste for scientific research. He obtained his degree in Chemistry in 1924. Deulofeu's reputation as a leading bio-organic chemist was already established, when, in 1939, he was appointed as a Professor of Organic Chemistry of the Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales at the same University. In 1941, invited by the Committee for Interamerican Cultural Relationships, he spent almost one year in the Biochemistry Laboratory, School of Medicine of the St. Louis University, doing research with Prof. E. A. Doisy. In 1977, he published his paper on the structure of a quercetin triglycoside containing D-apiose, isolated from Solanum glaucophylum—a plant toxic to cattle. Deulofeu died in Buenos Aires on October 4th, 1984. © 1988, Academic Press Inc.