Nine papers by researchers from the different Institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences report on the latest developments in biochemistry and chemistry. Some topics include the estimation of the oxygen limiting amount consumed by polymeric melt in the thermooxidative degradation process, kinetics of thermolysis of nitrogen compounds, and structural transitions in commercial cellulose systems. Other topics are thermal properties and destruction of blends of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) and ethylene-propylene copolymer, and a supramolecular heterophase-kinetic model of photo-transformations in cellulose triacetate sensitized by naphthalene. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR