am an MBA student (also, a Ph.D. in biochemistry) who is in the
process of writing a business plan as a class assignment. In the
context of this assignment, I was wondering if anyone might be
able to suggest natural products which fit the following criteria:

Natural products which a

1) Impossible, extremely difficult, or extremely expensive to synthesize in bulk

2) Hard or inefficient to isolate from natural sources

3) Of commercial interest to pharmaceutical, vitamin, food, or cosmetic industries

4) The biosynthetic pathway (genes) has been outlined

Number 4 is not absolutely necessary; #1-3 are. Suggestions would be
welcome.

-Dirk

am an MBA student BRBR
Natural products which a
1) Impossible, extremely difficult, or extremely expensive to synthesize in
bulk BRBR

Common sense.

2) Hard or inefficient to isolate from natural sources BRBR

Maple sap

3) Of commercial interest to pharmaceutical, vitamin, food, or cosmetic
industries BRBR

Both of the above.

4) The biosynthetic pathway (genes) has been outlined BRBR

Maple sap, yes. Dunno if there is a gene for common sense. Some of us have it;
some don't. It is not confined to humans.
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)

Enzymes




"Dirk Bussiere" wrote in message
m...
am an MBA student (also, a Ph.D. in biochemistry) who is in the
process of writing a business plan as a class assignment. In the
context of this assignment, I was wondering if anyone might be
able to suggest natural products which fit the following criteria:

Natural products which a

1) Impossible, extremely difficult, or extremely expensive to synthesize
in bulk

2) Hard or inefficient to isolate from natural sources

3) Of commercial interest to pharmaceutical, vitamin, food, or cosmetic
industries

4) The biosynthetic pathway (genes) has been outlined

Number 4 is not absolutely necessary; #1-3 are. Suggestions would be
welcome.

-Dirk

viable sperm

On 9 Oct 2004 18:03:32 -0700, (Dirk Bussiere)
wrote:

am an MBA student (also, a Ph.D. in biochemistry) who is in the
process of writing a business plan as a class assignment. In the
context of this assignment, I was wondering if anyone might be
able to suggest natural products which fit the following criteria:

Natural products which a

1) Impossible, extremely difficult, or extremely expensive to synthesize in bulk

2) Hard or inefficient to isolate from natural sources

3) Of commercial interest to pharmaceutical, vitamin, food, or cosmetic industries

4) The biosynthetic pathway (genes) has been outlined

Number 4 is not absolutely necessary; #1-3 are. Suggestions would be
welcome.

-Dirk

Man, if you could make really good synthetic saffron or vanilla
flavoring, identical to the natural stuff, you'd be rich.

M. Reed



Dirk Bussiere wrote:

am an MBA student (also, a Ph.D. in biochemistry) who is in the
process of writing a business plan as a class assignment. In the
context of this assignment, I was wondering if anyone might be
able to suggest natural products which fit the following criteria:

Natural products which a

1) Impossible, extremely difficult, or extremely expensive to synthesize in bulk

2) Hard or inefficient to isolate from natural sources

3) Of commercial interest to pharmaceutical, vitamin, food, or cosmetic industries

4) The biosynthetic pathway (genes) has been outlined

Number 4 is not absolutely necessary; #1-3 are. Suggestions would be
welcome.

-Dirk


--
ÿWPC5

The product "Melange" from the planet Dune (Arrakis) !

Just a SciFi joke :-)

MVH

"Dirk Bussiere" skrev i melding
m...
am an MBA student (also, a Ph.D. in biochemistry) who is in the
process of writing a business plan as a class assignment. In the
context of this assignment, I was wondering if anyone might be
able to suggest natural products which fit the following criteria:

Natural products which a

1) Impossible, extremely difficult, or extremely expensive to synthesize
in bulk

2) Hard or inefficient to isolate from natural sources

3) Of commercial interest to pharmaceutical, vitamin, food, or cosmetic
industries

4) The biosynthetic pathway (genes) has been outlined

Number 4 is not absolutely necessary; #1-3 are. Suggestions would be
welcome.

-Dirk

Natural products which a

1) Impossible, extremely difficult, or extremely expensive to synthesize
in bulk

2) Hard or inefficient to isolate from natural sources

3) Of commercial interest to pharmaceutical, vitamin, food, or cosmetic
industries

4) The biosynthetic pathway (genes) has been outlined BRBR

Pinon pine nuts, pignolis. I also second the motion on saffron and vanilla.
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)

"Monique Reed"

Man, if you could make really good synthetic saffron or vanilla
flavoring, identical to the natural stuff, you'd be rich.

M. Reed


-------------
Self pollinating vanilla bean plants would work too!



--
donald j haarmann
------------------------------
At a Scottish wedding the bridegroom, as was
customary at a wedding breakfast, arose to
respond to the toast of the health of the bride. He
was not used to public speaking and, words
failing him, he contented himself with the response,
"Well, there's naething wrang with the woman" ; and
in proposing the toast of "Applied Science" he
should like to point the moral of this story, and say
that there was nothing wrong with it ; that it was in a
state of absolute health, and in this country, as well
as in others, it was in a state of marvelous fertility,
and as each branch of Applied Sciences was apparently
capable of producing any number of other branches of
Applied Science, as time went on they might expect
a somewhat numerous family.

Sir William Ramsay K.C.B.. D.Sc., LL.D., lF.R.S.
Bradford, Wednesday, July 15, 1903.

Vanilla is a genus of orchid not a bean, Donald.

To be able to self pollinate the flowers, you would first need to be growing
the plants in full bloom!!!



"donald j haarmann" wrote in message
...
"Monique Reed"

Man, if you could make really good synthetic saffron or vanilla
flavoring, identical to the natural stuff, you'd be rich.

M. Reed


-------------
Self pollinating vanilla bean plants would work too!



--
donald j haarmann
------------------------------
At a Scottish wedding the bridegroom, as was
customary at a wedding breakfast, arose to
respond to the toast of the health of the bride. He
was not used to public speaking and, words
failing him, he contented himself with the response,
"Well, there's naething wrang with the woman" ; and
in proposing the toast of "Applied Science" he
should like to point the moral of this story, and say
that there was nothing wrong with it ; that it was in a
state of absolute health, and in this country, as well
as in others, it was in a state of marvelous fertility,
and as each branch of Applied Sciences was apparently
capable of producing any number of other branches of
Applied Science, as time went on they might expect
a somewhat numerous family.

Sir William Ramsay K.C.B.. D.Sc., LL.D., lF.R.S.
Bradford, Wednesday, July 15, 1903.

"Cereus-validus" wrote in
m:



"donald j haarmann" wrote in
message
...
"Monique Reed"

Man, if you could make really good synthetic saffron or vanilla
flavoring, identical to the natural stuff, you'd be rich.

M. Reed


-------------
Self pollinating vanilla bean plants would work too!



--
donald j haarmann
------------------------------

(Top posting repaired)

Vanilla is a genus of orchid not a bean, Donald.

To be able to self pollinate the flowers, you would first need to
be growing the plants in full bloom!!!



The word "vanilla" comes from another word meaning "little bean",
are you proposing a name change from "Vanilla" to "Testicula"? Then
you will have a plant named after a part of you!

In the normal course of events, you need to have a plant growing in
full bloom no matter how you pollinate them.

Sean

(Iris Cohen) wrote in
:

Natural products which a

1) Impossible, extremely difficult, or extremely expensive to
synthesize
in bulk

2) Hard or inefficient to isolate from natural sources

3) Of commercial interest to pharmaceutical, vitamin, food, or
cosmetic
industries

4) The biosynthetic pathway (genes) has been outlined BRBR

Pinon pine nuts, pignolis. I also second the motion on saffron and
vanilla. Iris,


Er, Iris, pignolis are not the same thing as Pinon nuts the world over.
Here in New Mexico, by state law, if you want to sell something labeled
as a Pinon nut, it must be the seed of either Pinus edulis, P.
monophylla, or P. cembroides. Other pine seeds can be sold as Pine
nuts.

Sean

Vanilla is a genus of orchid not a bean, Donald.
To be able to self pollinate the flowers, you would first need to be growing
the plants in full bloom!!! BRBR

Actually I believe the vanilla fruit is considered a pod, but it is often
called a bean. It is quite different from other orchid fruits, most of which
are capsules. One reason vanilla is so expensive is that the vanilla pods
require extensive preparation before the vanilla essence is extracted.

The word "vanilla" comes from another word meaning "little bean",

Not true. It comes from the Spanish word vainilla, meaning a little sheath. It
is from the same Latin root as vagina.
Another reason why vanilla is so labor intensive, & hence expensive, is that
there is no natural pollinator in the parts of the world where it is grown
today. It has to be hand pollinated. Since the flowers only last a day or so,
the workers have to go through the plantation on a daily basis to pollinate
them.
Another problem is that there are several viruses which attack vanilla vines.
The person who develops a self-pollinating, disease-resistant vanilla cultivar
will definitely have it made.

Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)

(Iris Cohen) wrote in
:

Vanilla is a genus of orchid not a bean, Donald.
To be able to self pollinate the flowers, you would first need to
be growing
the plants in full bloom!!! BRBR

Actually I believe the vanilla fruit is considered a pod, but it
is often called a bean. It is quite different from other orchid
fruits, most of which are capsules. One reason vanilla is so
expensive is that the vanilla pods require extensive preparation
before the vanilla essence is extracted.

The word "vanilla" comes from another word meaning "little
bean",

Not true. It comes from the Spanish word vainilla, meaning a
little sheath. It is from the same Latin root as vagina.
Another reason why vanilla is so labor intensive, & hence
expensive, is that there is no natural pollinator in the parts of
the world where it is grown today. It has to be hand pollinated.
Since the flowers only last a day or so, the workers have to go
through the plantation on a daily basis to pollinate them.
Another problem is that there are several viruses which attack
vanilla vines. The person who develops a self-pollinating,
disease-resistant vanilla cultivar will definitely have it made.


I checked my University of Chicago Spanish Dictionary...

OK, it also means pod, and beans come in pods!

It doesn't help that it takes several months between flower and a
ripe fruit. My experience in seeing it growing indicates that it
doesn't like to flower either, though some pictures on the web show
lots of fruit on a smallish plant.

Sean

"Iris Cohen" wrote in message ...
Vanilla is a genus of orchid not a bean, Donald.
To be able to self pollinate the flowers, you would first need to be growing
the plants in full bloom!!! BRBR

Actually I believe the vanilla fruit is considered a pod, but it is often
called a bean. It is quite different from other orchid fruits, most of which
are capsules. One reason vanilla is so expensive is that the vanilla pods
require extensive preparation before the vanilla essence is extracted.



---------
Sorry I cannot find all the posts on this, therefore, I am replying here.

Taking my copy of:—

JW Puseglve & et al
Tropical Agriculture Series
Spices
Longman 1981
Chaper 11 Vanilla pg. 644-735


p. 644
"The fruits are usually refered to as vanilla beans."

p. 648
Fruit
"The capsule, know in the trade as a bean, in pendulous, narrowly cylindrical, obscurely three-angled,
10 - 25 cm long and 5 - 15 mm in diameter......"

NB - I was not writing for publication only for da Net!

The largest expenses of vanilla is that the plants have to be hand pollinated!!

"The flower is so constructed that self-pollination of the individual flower is impossible, unless
hand-pollinated, due to the separation of the stamen from the stigma by the rostellum."

The plants only flower once a year over a period of two months. ... Fruit set is highest when pollination
is done very early on a bright morning following rain!!



--
donald j haarmann
-------------------------------
Professor Edgeworth of All Soul's avoided conversational
English, persistently using words and phrases one expects
to meet only in books. One evening, Lawrence [the famous
Lawrenece of Arabia] returned from a visit to London, and
Edgeworth met him at the gate. "Was it very caliginous in the
metropolis?"
"Some what caliginonus, but not altogether ins****ated,"
Lawrenece replied gravely.

"Some what caliginous, but not altogether ins****ated,"

Sounds foggy to me. ;-)
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)