Glycostructures play a highly diverse and crucial role in a myriad of organisms and important systems in biology, physiology, medicine, bioengineering and technology. Only in recent years have the tools been developed to partly understand the highly complex functions and the chemistry behind them, but many facts still remain undiscovered. "All roads lead to carbohydrates ... we cannot do without them." (K.C. Nicolaou). Presently the field is experiencing a "quantum jump". Therefore the editors have drawn together in this three volume set plus an accompanying CD-ROM, the complete and up-to-date information on glycostructures, their chemistry and chemical biology, and present them in the form of a comprehensive and strictly systematic survey. The texts are furnished by 2.670 figures, chemical structures and reaction schemes (including more than 12.000 individual chemical reactions), and more than 9.000 references.