The results of the empirical analysis highlight that major challenges for the agency of unions result from the complex intersections and interdependencies between the above-mentioned six processual relations of labour control. Due to the intricate intertwinings of more localised and spatially more extensive processual relations, employers' exploitation and disciplining practices are often shaped or enabled by the practices of other actors located at more or less geographical distance. For example, the practices through which Bangalore export-garment manufacturers construct labour process, workplace, wage and industrial relations are *shaped* directly by retailers' predatory purchasing practices at the vertical dimension of the GPN: To remain profitable in the face of retailers' practices of squeezing prices, placing irregular orders and demanding shorter lead times, Bangalore garment manufacturers exercise tight control over workers' productivity, rely on wage theft practices to keep production costs low, engage in practices of 'hiring and firing' to flexibilise employment relations, and perform union-busting practices to mitigate collective worker organisation. These practices are, in turn, *enabled* through pro business state practices, undermining unions' capacities to contest illegal exploiting and disciplining practices through legal channels. Moreover, the exploiting and disciplining practices deployed by Bangalore garment manufacturers intersect with and deliberately exploit broader social power asymmetries along the lines of age, gender and geographical origin. For example, manufacturers deliberately recruit predominantly young women from rural areas within Karnataka and increasingly also from North-East India since these workers are less likely to resist exploitation practices.

In a nutshell, the empirical analysis has highlighted three ways in which the labour control regime in the Bangalore export-garment cluster constrains the terrain for the agency of the three local case study unions. First, unions' opportunities for leveraging *structural power resources* are constrained by the specific practices through which retailers construct sourcing relations, and through which manufacturers organise the labour process. By constructing spatially asymmetric relationships with suppliers, retailers are able to play manufacturers in different locations off against each other and pressurise suppliers into offering lower prices (Sect. 6.2). Consequently, garment manufacturers in the Bangalore export-garment cluster also continuously seek novel strategies to keep wages low. Most export-garment companies operating in Bangalore maintain regional factory networks, enabling employers to pass price pressures on to workers. Employers argue that due to retailers' price pressures, they cannot increase wages and would be forced to shift production to lower-wage locations in India if workers attempted collective bargaining (see Sect. 6.3). Spatial asymmetries between transnational retailers and local manufacturers are hence reproduced at a smaller scale in the relations between manufacturers and workers. As a result, workers' and unions' capacities to exercise workplace bargaining power vis-à-vis employers through production stoppages are limited. Workers constantly face the risk that either manufacturers or retailers shift production orders to another factory. Besides limited workplace bargaining power, workers and unions in the Bangalore export-garment cluster also possess limited marketplace bargaining power. Since manufacturers organise the labour process in an assembly line system, with more complex operations being increasingly automated, the majority of tasks in Bangalore garment factories can be carried out by unskilled or semi-skilled workers (see Sect. 6.1). This rather low-skilled work profile, in turn, enables managements to balance local labour shortages by recruiting migrant workers from rural areas that have undergone a three-month training in one of the many private and public training centres set up under the Integrated Skill Development Scheme (see Sect. 6.7). As a result, workers possess limited workplace *and* marketplace bargaining power, which in turn constrains unions' abilities to implement proactive collective bargaining strategies that could achieve improvements for workers beyond the legally prescribed minimum standards.

Second, limitations for unions' capacities to exercise power over employers through industrial and workplace action also result from the various constraints that the labour control regime places on unions' opportunities for *building associational power*. These constraints result, on the one hand, from Bangalore exportgarment manufacturers' disciplining practices directed at preventing collective worker organisation. These disciplining practices include constructing factories as tightly controlled spaces, reproducing gendered structures of domination on the shop floor (Sect. 6.4), and a range of union-busting practices directed at discouraging workers from engaging with unions (Sect. 6.5). On the other hand, challenges for unions to build and leverage associational power resources also result from the spatial restructuring from Bangalore garment manufacturers' practices of expanding the labour market frontier: In the face of an increasing shortage of unskilled labour in the Bangalore urban area, garment manufacturers are moving factories to the outskirts of the city or neighbouring rural areas within the State of Karnataka and are also increasingly recruiting workers from villages near Bangalore. Consequently, there is an increasing spatial separation between workplaces and workers' living areas, with many workers being transported to the factory in company buses from distances of up to 80 kms (Sect. 6.7). As a result, unions face severe challenges for organising workers outside of the factory after their shifts or in their communities two organising strategies that unions have for a long time relied on in the face of the tight management control inside factories.

Third and last, pro-state business practices constrain workers' and unions' *institutional power resources*. India has traditionally possessed strong labour legislation offering workers various means to challenge illegal exploiting and disciplining practices such as requesting labour inspections, filing complaints with the labour department or filing a lawsuit in the labour court. With the general shift towards neoliberal politics in India's post-liberalisation area, these traditional sources of institutional power have, however, been dwindling. In the context of a general political climate that prioritises the creation of a business-enabling environment over the implementation of labour rights, many labour officers refrain from taking an active stance for workers in industrial dispute settlement mechanisms, thereby paving the way for an increasing employer dominance in industrial relations (Sect. 6.5). Moreover, due to the chronic understaffing of labour courts, processes are often dragged on for several years until a ruling is made. As a result, unions' capacities to use institutionalised dispute settlement or legal mechanisms as institutional power resources for challenging employers' illegal exploiting and disciplining mechanisms are severely constrained.

Despite these constraints for the agency of unions on the Bangalore exportgarment cluster, the empirical analysis has also shown that workers and unions have, nevertheless, achieved to stop or transform specific practices of exploitation or disciplining through networked agency strategies. These strategies simultaneously target multiple actors through combined actions at various levels. GATWU, for example, achieved to stop employer and state practices of delaying minimum revisions by targeting retailers, the state and employers at the same time through combined workplace action, local public protests and transnational consumer campaigns. Unions have also used pressure from transnational worker and consumer campaigning networks to achieve interventions by retailers and, thereby, to stop employers' illegal union-busting strategies. In doing so, unions have opened up spaces for organising and collective dialogue in selected factories. In these factories, unions were able to stop particularly harsh exploiting practices such as verbal abuse of workers or wage theft through 'giving comp-offs'. Hence, the analysis has also showcased that the labour control regime as an institutionalised framework for capital accumulation is not only unilaterally imposed on workers and unions by state and capital actors. Instead, workers and unions also challenge and transform and thereby coshape the practices and relations that constitute the labour control regime through their everyday actions and struggles.

In the next section, I turn towards the second research question and summarise insights into the different ways in which unions in the Bangalore garment unions construct networked agency strategies. Specifically, I recapitulate the most important findings regarding which relationships and routinised interactions have allowed workers and unionists in the Bangalore export-garment cluster to develop strategic capacities and power resources.

#### *8.1.2 Building Unions' Strategic Capacities and Power Resources in Relational Spaces of Labour Agency*

To answer the second research question addressing the potential of different agency strategies for enabling unionists and workers to build strategic capacities and power resources, I have developed a relational heuristic framework for analysing union agency (see Sect. 3.3). Building on the concepts of 'Networks of Labour Activism' and worker and union power resources, I have developed a heuristic framework for analysing unions' strategic approaches through the lens of three intersecting 'spaces of labour agency'. These spaces are: (1) *spaces of organising* constituted through unions' practices of building relationships with workers as (potential) union members; (2) *spaces of collaboration* constituted through unions' collaborative relationships with external organisations such as other unions, NGOs or consumer organisations; and (3*) spaces of contestation* constructed by unions around specific labour struggles through practices of targeting employers, lead firms and (in some cases) state actors, and through practices of 'drawing' allies such as other workers, consumer or labour rights groups into struggles. Spaces of labour agency are hence relational networks of processual relations and routinised interactions, within which workers and unions can potentially develop the strategic capacities and power resources that ultimately enable unions to build lasting bargaining power vis-à-vis capital and state actors.

The empirical analysis of the three Bangalore-based garment unions has highlighted that unions construct spaces of organising, collaboration and contestation through different routinised interactions and relationships—with varying implications for developing workers' and unionists' strategic capacities and power resources (see Chap. 7). In the analysis, I have identified two stylised strategic agency approaches characterised by different practices of constructing spaces of organising, collaboration and contestation. I have labelled these two approaches as (1) the 'community organising, fire-fighting' approach and (2) the 'strategic factory organising, collective bargaining' approach. In the following, I will summarise the main practices and relations that characterise each approach as well as the potential and limits of each approach for building sustained union bargaining power.

Under the *community organising, fire-fighting approach*, unions construct spaces of organising mainly at the community level. Relationships with workers are not constructed primarily around workplace issues but also around issues of workers' everyday life in the household and the community through organising saving groups and area committees, or providing counselling for family problems. To this end, unions usually collaborate closely with local community organisations. Community organising strategies were prevalent especially in the early phase of the three garment unions, which emerged as independent unions from an NGO-led support project for garment workers. In this context, the community organising approach responded to the specific composition of the workforce in the Bangalore export-garment cluster. Being mostly female, first-generation industrial workers from rural areas, many garment workers in the cluster were unfamiliar with the concept of unionisation and unions as collective organisations. This lack of awareness, combined with tight employer control in the workplace and patriarchal power structures, made traditional workplace organising unviable. Against this backdrop, building relationships with workers through community organising strategies enabled unions to gain workers' trust, foster collective experiences and thereby build associational power at the local level. However, this organising strategy also had limits in building bargaining power vis-à-vis employers. While organising workers in their communities allowed unions to mobilise relatively large numbers of workers for punctual public protests, it did not enable unions to build a strong membership base inside specific factories. A strong membership at the factory level is, however, a precondition for the exercise of workplace bargaining power through industrial action.

Unions' early community organising strategies need to be understood as interrelated with the practices of constructing spaces of collaboration that characterised unions' early stages. In their early years, unions constructed collaborations with external actors, mainly around projects funded by NGOs from the Global North. As mentioned before, the three unions emerged from an NGO-led garment worker support project funded by Oxfam International, through which the unions' activities and full-time organisers were paid. As for community organising strategies, the empirical analysis has highlighted mixed effects of project collaborations with Northern NGOs for unions' capacity to build sustained bargaining power. On the one hand, funding from NGOs provided unions with the financial means to sustain their organising and community work when unions were unable to sustain themselves through membership fees. On the other hand, collaborations with NGOs for funded projects had constraining effects on unions' capacities to engage in strategic factory organising and foster internal union democracy. Constraints for strategic factory organising resulted from the primary objective of these NGO-funded projects, which was usually not to strengthen union-building processes but instead to provide aid for garment workers. In this light, the project's success was not measured against its contributions to strengthening a unions' bargaining power but instead against the number of workers reached through the project. This 'institutional logic' of maximising outreach (c.f. Egels-Zandén et al. 2015) hence requires unions to create loose ties with a large number of workers rather than strong ties with a smaller number of workers from specific factories. Moreover, funded project collaborations with Northern NGOs tended to bind significant personnel resources for documenting and research tasks—resources that, in turn, could not be invested in union building and worker organising.

The focus on building relations with many workers at the community level and the resulting lack of a strong associational power base inside factories also influenced how unions constructed spaces of contestation under the community organising, firefighting approach. As the term 'fire-fighting' suggests, unions mainly constructed spaces of contestation in a reactive manner by addressing labour rights violations reported to the union by individual workers. In the face of the constraints for unions to exercise leverage on employers through industrial action, unions relied primarily on the moral power of transnational consumer campaigns to harness the leverage of retailers over garment manufacturers and thereby achieve corrections of labour rights violations in specific factories. However, as the empirical analysis has shown, relying on the borrowed moral power of transnational consumer campaigning networks had limited potential in building lasting union bargaining power vis-à-vis employers. The scope of issues that could be addressed through transnational consumer campaigning strategies was limited to reacting to particularly harsh labour rights violations. Therefore, transnational consumer campaigns alone did not enable unions to pressure employers into collective bargaining processes and achieve improvements for workers beyond the mere implementation of minimum labour standards.

In the face of the limitations of the community organising, fire-fighting approach for building union bargaining power vis-à-vis employers, the three Bangalore garment unions have—to varying extents—implemented a different strategic agency approach over the past years. This approach prioritises the factory as space for organising and seeks to foster collective bargaining with employers. Under this *strategic factory organising, collective bargaining* approach, unions have started to concentrate their organising activities on selected target factories to build strong ties with a core group of workers from each factory. These workers then act as worker representatives and organisers *inside* the factory. Complementary to this shift in spaces of organising from the community to the workplace, two of the three Bangalore garment unions have constructed new spaces of collaboration. Instead of focussing their resources on constructing alliances with transnational consumer networks and NGOs, these unions are now building collaborations with labour organisations and networks. In this context, the empirical analysis has exemplified that such collaborations between labour actors can represent important spaces for union organisers and workers to gain strategic knowledge—for example, about the value chain structure and to develop strategic capacities. These capacities include, for example, strategy development capacities for designing networked agency strategies that use transnational solidarity only as an instrument to open up spaces for organising and collective bargaining in target factories.

As a result, with the shift to a factory organising, collective bargaining approach, unions have shifted the practices through which they construct spaces of contestation as well. With increased associational power inside factories and enhanced capacities to engage in collective action, the workplace has become the central arena in struggles for collective bargaining agreements. Transnational campaigning strategies and labour solidarity, in turn, are employed by unions increasingly only as a secondary source of leverage. Following such a networked agency approach, the Bangalore garment union GATWU signed in 2019 the first collective bargaining agreement in the history of the union. As opposed to previous victories under the 'fire-fighting' approach, with this bargaining agreement, Avery Dennison not only committed to refrain from union-busting practices but also to grant workers benefits and wages beyond the legally prescribed minimum (see Sect. 7.1.2).

However, it is important to note that in the everyday practices of all three garment unions, up to date, tensions exist between practices rooted in the community organising, fire-fighting approach and unions' declared strategic goals of factory organising and collective bargaining. The two presented stylised models of strategic union agency approaches, hence, need to be understood as opposite ends of a spectrum, with Bangalore garment unions currently finding themselves somewhere in between. Nevertheless, the findings from the empirical analysis have provided important insights into the potentials and limitations of the two agency strategies for building sustained union bargaining power.

Together with the insights from the analysis of the labour control regime and resulting constraints for union agency, this study, hence, makes several critical empirical contributions to debates in labour geography and GPN analysis about how to build sustained union power in garment producing countries. These empirical contributions will be discussed in the next section.

#### **8.2 Empirical Contributions of This Study: Lessons for Building Local Union Power in Garment Producing Countries**

Which lessons can we learn from the analysis presented in this study for building local union power and improving working conditions in the global garment industry? Four essential teachings shall be pointed out here that are valuable for local unions in garment producing countries as well as for labour rights and consumer organisations in the Global North concerned with improving labour conditions in the garment industry.

First, the empirical analysis has highlighted that a significant challenge for improving working conditions in the global garment industry results from the highly complex structural frameworks for labour exploitation and capital accumulation at the various nodes of the garment GPN. These structural frameworks—designated in this study as labour control regimes—are constructed and reproduced through the intertwined practices of a multitude of actors located in more or less distant places, who all seek to extract and appropriate surplus value from living labour (c.f. Cumbers et al. 2008). As a result, to challenge institutionalised frameworks for labour exploitation, local unions need to develop networked agency strategies, which allow unions to target capital and state actors simultaneously at multiple levels. This lesson contradicts the arguments made by earlier studies in labour geography that different types of labour control regimes in garment producing countries—e.g. market, state, employer control regimes—are conducive to different agency strategies by local unions, e.g. wildcat strikes, engaging in multi-stakeholder initiatives and transnational labour organising (see e.g. Anner 2015a). Instead, the findings from this study highlight how local unions—in the face of complex, networked labour control regimes—need to intertwine all of the aforementioned strategies to contest and transform structural relations of exploitation (see also Tufts 2007; Wills 2002). In this context, this study has exemplarily illustrated how the local garment union GATWU has achieved stopping employer and state practices of undermining and circumventing statutory minimum wage revisions through a networked minimum wage campaign (see Sect. 7.1.1). Strategic actions within the campaign comprised (1) conducting symbolic protests in the workplace, (2) holding public protests at the local level, (3) filing a lawsuit to contest illegal state practices of withdrawing already issued minimum wage notifications and (4) harnessing the leverage of lead firms over manufacturers through transnational consumer campaigns. It was only through the combination of all these actions that GATWU was able to stop the interrelated set of employer and state practices that had prevented the implementation of mandatory minimum wage increases. Hence, this study makes a case for a heightened sensitivity towards the networked character of capital and state-produced labour control structures. It has shown that no scale can be singled out as particularly dominant within the local labour control regime in the Bangalore export-garment cluster. Consequently, unions must develop agency approaches that combine and strategically intertwine actions at *various* scales.

Second, the study has illustrated that in countries or regions where the garment industry is characterised by a highly feminised workforce or by a high share of migrant, first-generation industrial workers, traditional workplace organising strategies focusing exclusively on economic demands may not be conducive. In these contexts, it can be helpful for unions to construct initial relationships with workers through organising practices that address workers not only as wage workers but also as women, mothers, daughters, migrants and community members (see also Doutch 2021; Jenkins 2013). Such organising practices can help to raise workers' awareness of intersecting lines of structural exploitation along categories of class, gender and geographical origin and thereby to foster workers' collective mindset an essential precondition for building associational and organisational power (c.f. Lévesque and Murray 2010). Therefore, the findings from this study align with the arguments of prior work by labour geographers and researchers stressing the potential of 'community' or 'social movement' unionism approaches for building union power in countries of the Global South (see e.g. Moody 1997; Nowak 2017). In contrast to prior work, this study, however, also highlights the risks that come with organising strategies that prioritise the community as space for organising at the expense of more targeted workplace organising strategies: While community organising strategies can enable unions to build associational power at the local level, they do not enable unions to build a strong membership base inside the factory. However, such a membership base inside the factory is necessary for unions to be able to exercise workplace bargaining power through industrial action. As a result, unions that rely exclusively on a community organising strategy are likely to limit their scope of action to correcting individual labour rights violations since they do not possess the necessary workplace bargaining power to engage in proactive collective bargaining. Therefore, to achieve improvements for workers beyond the implementation of basic minimum labour standards, community organising practices need to be combined with a targeted workplace organising strategy.

Third, the results of this study call for heightened sensitivity to the mixed effects that collaborations between local unions in garment producing countries and NGOs in consumer countries from the Global North have on local unions' capacities for building sustained bargaining power vis-à-vis employers. This lesson is particularly relevant since the global garment industry has seen a proliferation of such North-South collaborations since the 1990s with the rise of transnational anti-sweatshop movements and multi-stakeholder initiatives (Zajak et al. 2017: 914; see also Anner 2015b; Esbenshade 2004; Fütterer and López Ayala 2018; Hauf 2017; Merk 2009). At the same time, this study shows that while such collaborations can help local unions to access and leverage different types of coalitional power resources (e.g. financial resources from funded projects, moral power resources from consumer campaigns), North-South collaborations can also hamper unions' abilities to develop organisational and associational power resources. Financial flows from Northern NGOs to local unions in garment producing countries are often linked to strict accountability regimes requiring unions to document all activities and expenses. As a result, union organisers invest significant time into activities that do not directly contribute to the union-building process. Moreover, when unions sustain themselves primarily through external funding and not through membership fees, the union leadership becomes primarily accountable to external donors instead of being primarily accountable to the union members. This shift from internal accountability to external accountability of the union leadership, in turn, hampers internal union democracy. This study has hence provided further evidence for arguments from past studies that external funding for local unions can be a double-edged sword (see e.g. Banse 2016; Fink 2014).

Similarly, this study has pointed out potential hampering effects for building local unions' associational and organisational power resources linked to local unions' engagement with transnational consumer campaigning networks. Especially when unions rely exclusively on moral power resources from consumer campaigns and on the leverage of retailers to compensate for a lack of associational power in the workplace, this strategy may create a path dependency that limits unions' capacities to engage in workplace organising and collective bargaining. In transnational campaigns, NGOs from the Global North take on strategic planning and decisionmaking capacities while the role of unions and workers is reduced to providing information about and documentation of labour rights violations. As a result, neither unionists nor workers develop the strategic capacities that are necessary to build the unions' associational and organisational power resources in the long term. However, as this study and others have pointed out, victories achieved through transnational campaigning strategies tend to be temporary and limited to correcting particularly harsh labour rights violations (see e.g. Anner 2015b; López and Fütterer 2019; Ross 2006). Therefore, building associational and organisational power resources is central for unions to lastingly shift the capital-labour power balance in favour of workers and achieve lasting and comprehensive improvements for workers (see also Kumar 2014, 2019; Oka 2016).

As a result of the third lesson, this study has, fourth, highlighted the importance of transnational collaborations and union strategies that prioritise the development of unionists' and workers' strategic capacities and collective experiences as a vehicle for building sustained union bargaining power. In this regard, this study has, on the one hand, showcased the potential of transnational collaborations with other labour organisations that—as opposed to collaborations with consumer organisations—prioritise union building and collective bargaining processes as a long-term goal. In doing so, these collaborations can provide network spaces for mutual learning, planning and strategy development as well as for the exercise of transnational solidarity to combat union-busting practices, and thereby open up wiggle room for local union building and collective bargaining in garment producing countries (see also Lohmeyer et al. 2018; López and Fütterer 2022). On the other hand, this study has highlighted the importance of unions in garment producing countries to actively involve workers in planning and decision-making processes in specific labour struggles and to foster collective experiences of resistance. Such experiences are, in turn, essential to build the associational and organisational power resources that will allow a union to shift the power balance between employers and unions in the long term. In this context, this study has shown that in cases where unions do not have sufficient associational power at the factory level to engage in industrial action, symbolic protests in the workplace can be an instrument for fostering workers' active participation and collective resistance experience in a specific labour struggle. Developing workers' strategic capacities is particularly important to mitigate professionalisation processes that lead to the increasing centralisation of decision-making and planning competencies on full-time union staff (see e.g. Choudry and Kapoor 2013; Fink 2014; Fütterer and López Ayala 2018). Such a centralisation of strategic capacities weakens unions since they hamper the development of a strong second-rank leadership in the workplace, which can serve as a nucleus for organising and which can negotiate everyday problems with the management independently.

In summary, this study has highlighted that to achieve lasting improvements for workers, unions not only need to construct collaborations with external actors in ways that foster unionists' and workers' strategic capacities but also need to construct internal union relations in horizontal and democratic ways. In local contexts characterised by a highly feminised workforce and strong patriarchal social relations—as in many Asian garment producing countries—fostering horizontal and democratic internal union relations may, therefore, also require unions to actively combat internal gendered power asymmetries by fostering women leadership (see also Doutch 2021; Evans 2017).

#### **8.3 Theoretical Contributions of This Study: Producing New Insights Through a Relational Analytical Perspective**

Besides offering important empirical findings regarding the challenges and strategies for building sustained union bargaining power and improving working conditions in garment-producing countries, this study has made several theoretical contributions to current debates within economic and labour geography. Specifically, the relational analytical approach presented in this book contributes to advancing theoretical concepts and debates within three strands of research in economic and labour geography: (1) research on labour in GPNs; (2) GPN analysis more generally and (3) practice-oriented research in economic geography.

#### *8.3.1 Contributions to Research on Labour Control and Labour Agency in GPNs*

Most importantly, by introducing a relational approach as an alternative to dominant scalar approaches, this book centrally advances the theoretical discussion of labour control and labour agency in GPNs. As illustrated in the literature review (Chapter 2), the dominance of scalar heuristics has limited past studies' capacity to recognise the deeply relational nature of the multi-scalar 'labour control architectures' underpinning GPNs and of workers' multi-scalar agency strategies in GPNs. The relational analytical approach developed in this book achieves to overcome these limitations by shifting the analytical focus from pre-defined scales to networks of relationships as a central heuristic.

As a result, the relational analytical approach developed here firstly, achieves to overcome a crucial limitation of past studies on labour control regimes in GPNs regarding their ability to grasp the socio-spatial relations underpinning specific local labour control regimes. These studies have tended to presuppose a universal, hierarchical nested scalar order as characteristic of all labour control regimes in GPNs. This presupposition has limited past studies' capacity to map the empirically existing socio-spatial relations that constitute labour control regimes. In contrast, the relational heuristic framework for studying labour control in GPNs introduced in this book leaves analytical space for carving out the individual and place-specific sociospatialities of labour control regimes at different nodes of a GPN. Instead of seeking to fit dynamics and relations of labour control into pre-given scalar categories, the proposed relational framework takes empirically existing practices, relations and their interrelations as an analytical point of departure and maps their spatial extensions and characteristics. As a result, the here-developed relational approach is more sensitive to the different ways, in which geographically more delimited and spatially more unbounded processes and relationships of labour control shape and enable each other. It, therefore, provides an apt tool for addressing recent calls from labour geographers who have called on researchers to pay increased attention to the "mix of geographically distant and proximate relationships across different scales" (Wickramasingha and Coe 2021) that characterise labour control regimes in GPNs.

Second, the relational approach developed in this study sheds light on another aspect that has remained understudied in past research on labour control regimes, namely the dialectical relationships between labour control and labour agency (see e.g. Hastings and MacKinnon 2017; Wickramasingha and Coe 2021). Past studies working with scalar heuristics have tended to conceptualise labour control regimes as structural contexts at various levels that are unilaterally imposed on local workers (see e.g. Pattenden 2016; Smith et al. 2018). In contrast to this dominant 'top-down' conceptualisation, the here-developed relational approach stresses that labour control regimes as structural contexts are constructed through practices and relationships that are situated in space and time and can be challenged and transformed by workers and unions. Consequently, the here-developed relational, practice-oriented analytical approach can shed light on the 'small transformations' (Latham 2002) of labour control practices and relations achieved by workers and unions through strategies of reworking (Cumbers et al. 2010). Even though such strategies may not challenge hegemonic power and capitalist exploitative relations per se, they may still recalibrate local power relations and thereby redistribute resources in favour of workers. Therefore, the relational, practice-oriented framework developed in this book allows producing analyses that are sensitive to how labour control regimes as institutional frameworks for capital accumulation are produced and continuously transformed in a "dialectical process of interaction" between capital, state and labour actors (Hastings and MacKinnon 2017: 104).

Third, the relational approach to union agency developed in this book can generate enhanced insights into how different processes and relationships of labour control at various stages enable and shape each other and how unions can strategically intertwine actions at various levels. Thereby, the relational approach presented here has expanded the scope of past studies of labour agency in GPNs, which have tended to adopt a one-sided focus on the 'up-scaling' of local labour struggles to the international level while neglecting other scales of agency (see e.g. Anner 2015b; Merk 2009). By giving visibility to how unions deploy strategic actions at *various* levels and how these interplay in building unions' bargaining power, the here-introduced relational approach facilitates understanding labour's networked agency "as constituted by interdependent scales of action that are not nested in a hierarchy privileging one scale over another" (Tufts 2007: 2387). Such an understanding heightens researchers' sensitivity towards the structural effects that collaborations with external actors at various levels may have on internal union relations and practices (see also Zajak et al. 2017). As has been shown in the previous section, only by analysing different scales of action as interrelated can researchers evaluate which types of union collaborations have enabling effects and which types of collaborations have constraining effects for fostering workers' and unionists' strategic capacities.

Fourth and last, the relational approach to labour agency developed in this book allows tackling a blind spot in past research on union agency in GPNs. In past research, internal union relations and their intersections with broader social relations have largely remained a black box (see also Cumbers 2015). By conceptualising internal union relations as a vital dimension of union agency, the relational approach to union agency developed in this book opens this black box. Thereby, it allows for a critical analysis of unions' everyday practices not only with regard to constructing alliances with external actors but also with regard to constructing internal relations between union leadership and members as well as between union members and non-members. As a result, the here-developed relational approach also sharpens our understanding of the intersections of internal union relations with other social relations, such as relations of gender or geographical provenience and the power structures enshrined in these relations. It can, therefore, refine our understanding of the embeddedness of labour agency not only within the structural-relational formations of capital and the state but also within broader, place-specific socio-cultural relations (Coe and Jordhus-Lier 2010; Doutch 2021; Hastings 2016).

#### *8.3.2 Contributions to GPN Analysis*

Beyond providing new insights into the dynamics of labour control and labour agency in GPNs, the relational approach developed in this study contributes to reviving and reinvigorating a relational perspective within GPN analysis more broadly. As laid out in Sect. 2.1, early work with the GPN approach was underpinned by a profoundly relational understanding of the global economy as constituted through networked vertical and horizontal relations of production, exchange and consumption (c.f. Dicken et al. 2001). However, in the further evolution of GPN analysis, there has only been sporadic engagement with this incipient relational analytical perspective (Cumbers 2015). As a result, GPN scholars have recently voiced critique towards many (self-attributed) GPN-studies for focussing exclusively on territorial dynamics at the horizontal dimension without systematically exploring their interconnections with "the configuration and operation of the global production network in question" (Coe and Yeung 2019: 788; see also Yeung 2020).

Against this background, the relational approach developed in this book firstly provides an innovative analytical framework for producing empirically grounded demonstrations of the "causal links between […] network dynamics and territorial outcomes" (Coe and Yeung 2019: 778). The focus of this study has been on analysing the conditions and role of labour within GPNs. Nevertheless, the here-developed conceptual approach of analysing place-specific territorial outcomes within GPNs through the lens of interwoven network and territorial relations laden with power can enrich other research areas in GPN analysis as well, such as research at the intersection of GPN analysis and political ecology (see e.g. Bridge and Bradshaw 2017; Dorn and Huber 2020; Irarrázaval and Bustos-Gallardo 2019) or research on the development effects of integrating specific places into GPNs (see e.g. McGrath 2018; Tessmann 2018; Vicol et al. 2019).

Second, the relational approach developed in this book also contributes to a more nuanced understanding of "the relational, networked and institutional qualities of how power is generated and ultimately exercised" in GPNs (Hess 2008: 456; see also Arnold and Hess 2017; Raj-Reichert 2020). Whereas the GPN framework has traditionally conceptualised power predominantly as a static resource held by specific actors within a GPN (Henderson et al. 2002), this study has highlighted that power in GPNs is profoundly dynamic, relational and networked. Power in GPNs is relational, since it only becomes effective in shaping material outcomes when actors exercise it in relation to other actors. Moreover, power within GPNs has a networked character when actors strategically direct flows of power within networks of relationships to exercise leverage over other actors. This study has illustrated networked power on the example of Bangalore-based unions' strategies of leveraging the influence of geographically distant lead firms, consumer and worker groups from the Global North to shift the local power balance with employers. By foregrounding the relationships through which power flows and is exercised, the here-developed relational approach enhances our understanding of the complex power flows within GPNs that "reach and stretch across distances where the lives of others far away are shaped by those nearby and vice versa" (Raj-Reichert 2020: 654).

#### *8.3.3 Contributions to Practice-Oriented Research in Economic Geography*

Last but not least, the relational analytical approach to labour control regimes and labour agency developed in this book also contributes to advancing practice-oriented research in economic geography: It provides a novel conceptual tool for theorising the links between micro-scale practices and macro-scale social and economic phenomena. As practice-oriented economic geographers have reiterated: the value but also the central challenge for practice-oriented research lies in demonstrating how "higher order phenomena", such as institutions or class structures, "are enacted, reproduced, and/or transformed through the everyday actions embedded within them" (Jones and Murphy 2010: 372; see also Everts 2016; Wiemann et al. 2019). In this vein, by emphasising the links between the manifold labour control practices and relations that constitute the structural context for worker and union agency in GPNs, the here-developed analysis shows "how context, structures, and individual agency or action come together in the doing of economic and industrial activities" (Jones and Murphy 2010: 3050).

#### **8.4 Final Reflections and Directions for Further Research**

This book highlights the challenges for improving working conditions in the global garment industry, which result from uneven power relations between multinational retailers and local manufacturers on the one hand, and between manufacturers and workers, on the other. Despite an increasing consolidation of supplier networks and the emergence of large tier one suppliers over the past 15 years, spatial asymmetries between retailers and suppliers persist. Retailers continue to maintain large and geographically dispersed networks of suppliers and to establish new sourcing relations with manufacturers in ever lower-wage countries, such as Myanmar and Ethiopia. Garment manufacturers, in contrast, are usually forced to concentrate the largest share of their business on a few key buyers due to variations in buyers' technical and social standards and requirements. As a result, especially large retailers like H&M, Inditex or G.A.P are still able to 'squeeze' manufacturers by demanding lower prices, shorter lead times and enhanced flexibility from their suppliers.

Manufacturers pass on the pressures for reducing costs while increasing productivity to workers through a complex web of disciplining and exploiting practices. Whereas strong state control and regulation in garment producing countries could help to mitigate worker exploitation, such a regulatory role of the state conflicts with the aim of governments in many garment producing countries to boost economic development through providing a business enabling environment for capital. Due to its ability to generate employment for the unskilled, rural population and to attract foreign investments, the export-garment industry enjoys a special status in many industrialising countries. As a result, not only in India but also in other garment producing countries, the state and public institutions do not provide a counterweight to the dominance of employers over labour. Instead, they frequently tolerate or actively support illegal employer practices of exploiting and disciplining, such as wage theft or union busting (see e.g. Anner 2022; Hossain 2019; Wickramasingha and Coe 2021).

In light of these complex entanglements of intersecting relationships of domination at the vertical, 'network' dimension of the garment GPN and at the horizontal dimension, i.e. within individual garment producing countries, it becomes evident that 'soft' regulation attempts through codes of conducts and ethical trading initiatives alone can only have a limited effect with regard to improving working conditions. Without strong pressure from labour and consumer organisations, capital and state actors have little incentive for effectively putting the social standards defined in the context of such initiatives into practice. At the same time, this study has highlighted once more that interventions of consumer organisations without the presence of strong local unions can, at best, contribute to correcting and mitigating particularly cruel violations of workers' rights. In contrast, to bring about lasting improvements of garment workers beyond minimum labour standards, strong labour movements are needed that can shift the capital-labour power balance in favour of workers. Shifting the capital-labour power balance in garment producing countries is particularly important to improve workers' wages, which still remain below subsistence levels in most Asian countries. Where statutory minimum wages have been increased in past years, these raises have usually been the result of sustained worker campaigning and strike action, for example, in Bangladesh (Wickramasingha and Coe 2021), Cambodia (Lawreniuk and Parsons 2018) and India (see Sect. 7.1). At the same time, in the face of the highly feminised and informalised nature of work in the garment industry, unions also need to tackle internal patriarchal structures of domination and develop innovative organising approaches that address the struggles of women and informal workers beyond the sphere of production (Doutch 2021; Evans 2017).

In this light, the scope of this and other studies on labour organising in garment production countries consists of a relatively narrow focus on the struggles of workers labouring in tier one garment factories acting as direct suppliers for transnational retailers. Less attention has been paid so far to the challenges and strategies for organising workers in the subcontracted tier two and three segments of the Asian export-garment industry, where work is frequently carried out in the form of piecebased, informal homework production arrangements (see e.g. Mezzadri 2016; Neve 2014). As a result, the labour process in these lower tiers tends to be characterised by a higher level of spatial segmentation and a dilution of the employee-employer relationship, with workers being formally self-employed and relationships with factories often being mediated through a chain of intermediaries. These organisational characteristics bring along distinct challenges for collective organisation, representation and bargaining. At the same time, home-based, subcontracted workers represent the weakest link in the garment value chain, since they fall through the cracks of both social auditing regimes and state regulation. Work in the subcontracted tier two and

three segments of retailers' supplier networks is, therefore, often characterised by an even higher level of precarity and insecurity than in retailers' direct supplier factories.

Against this backdrop, a stronger engagement of researchers and unions with workers in informal settings and the conditions that constrain and foster these workers' collective agency is needed. The relational, practice-oriented approach for analysing labour control and labour agency in GPN developed in this book can provide a conceptual starting point for such an engagement by labour geographers and other researchers.

#### **References**

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## **Annex I List of Interviews**

(continued)

## **Annex II List of Field Notes**

## **Index**

#### **A**

Apparel Training and Design Centre, 195 Asia Floor Wage Alliance, 253, 261, 262 Assembly line system, 151 Auditing process, 159 Avery Dennison, 234–237, 241, 242

#### **B**

Bangalore export-garment cluster, 129, 137, 138

#### **C**

Capitalism, 29 capitalist production, 28, 29 China Labour Bulletin, 257, 259, 261, 262, 271 Cividep, 216, 245, 246, 251, 252 Class, 29 Clean Clothes Campaign, 61, 217, 221, 240, 255, 261 Code of Conduct, 4, 26, 56, 57 Coding, 121 Collective bargaining, 181, 202, 227, 236, 242, 243, 249, 258, 270, 288 Community organising, 215, 246, 272, 274, 275, 286, 287 Comp-off, 163, 169, 170, 202, 254 Consumer campaigns, 220, 221 Contract work, 192, 193, 234 COVID-19 crisis, 133

#### **D**

Data analysis, 121 Decent Work approach, 23, 26 Digital supply chain integration, 160 Disciplining, 84

#### **E**

Economic liberalisation, 168 Embeddedness, 21 network embeddedness, 21, 87 territorial embeddedness, 21, 87 Employment relations, 86, 189, 282 Ethical Trading Initiative, 236 Expert interviews, 118 Exploiting, 84 Extended case method, 106, 107

#### **F**

Factory mapping, 260 Factory organising, 228, 229, 231, 248, 273, 274, 287 Factory regimes, 32, 36 despotic factory regimes, 32 hegemonic despotism, 32 hegemonic factory regimes, 32 FEDINA, 257, 261 Feminised shop floors, 175

#### **G**

Garment and Textile Workers Union (GATWU), 141, 211 Garment GPN, 131–133 Garment Labour Union (GLU), 142, 245 Gatekeepers, 110 Gender relations, 174 Global Commodity Chains, 18 buyer-driven commodity chains, 19

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2023

T. López, *Labour Control and Union Agency in Global Production Networks*, Economic Geography, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-27387-2

311

producer-driven commodity chains, 19 Global Framework Agreements, 26, 56 Global Production Networks, 292, 294 horizontal dimension, 20 vertical dimension, 20, 50 Global Value Chains, 19 Gokaldas Exports, 254 Governance, 19, 34 governance deficit, 25 private governance, 25 public governance, 25 regulatory governance, 25

#### **H**

Hiring and firing, 189, 190, 193

#### **I**

ILO Decent Work Agenda, 23 In-depth interviews, 114, 115, 117 Indeterminacy of labour, 29, 195 Indian Contract Workers Act, 191, 235 Indian Factory Act, 192 Indian garment industry, 8, 135, 136 Indian Industrial Disputes Act, 180, 185, 219 Indian Industrial Employment Act, 191 Indian Minimum Wage Act, 165 Indian Trade Union Act, 143, 180 Industrial relations, 86, 140, 180, 181, 188, 282 Integrated Skill Development Scheme, 196, 200, 203, 284

#### **J**

Jumping scale, 60

#### **K**

Karnataka Garment Workers Union (KGWU), 141, 257

#### **L**

Labour agency, 5, 30, 48, 50, 294 constrained agency, 51 Labour Codes, 187 Labour control, 5, 37, 38, 42, 201, 282, 294 Labour control regime, 36, 38, 47, 84, 93, 94, 289, 293 employer labour control regimes, 36 local labour control regime, 42

market labour control regime, 36 migrant labour regime, 40 multi-scalar labour control regime, 44, 45 national labour control regime, 40 state labour control regime, 36 Labour exploitation, 36, 289 Labour geography, 48 Labour market frontier, 197 Labour market relations, 87, 194, 282 Labour process, 30, 35, 150, 151, 157 Labour process automation, 153 Labour Process Theory, 28, 31, 34

#### **M**

Marxist economic geography, 29 Marxist Political Economy approach, 23, 28 Migrant workers, 199, 203, 251 Multi-Fibre-Agreement, 130, 259

#### **N**

Networked agency, 239 Networks of Labour Activism, 6, 63, 64

#### **O**

Oppositional consciousness, 250 Original Equipment Manufacturers, 130 Outsourcing, 35

#### **P**

Participant observation, 112 peripheral participation, 113 Place, 81 Positionality, 103, 111 Power, 21, 52 Power resources, 210, 276 associational power, 53, 55, 204, 239, 284, 290, 291 coalitional power, 53, 57, 268, 290 institutional power, 53, 56, 204, 239, 244, 284 marketplace bargaining power, 53 moral power, 53, 57, 256 organisational power, 55, 237, 276, 290, 291 societal power, 53, 57 structural power, 53, 54, 203, 283 workplace bargaining power, 54 Power resources approach, 52 Practice-oriented research, 79, 296

Index 313

Predatory purchasing practices, 162, 164, 201, 283 Price squeeze, 162, 181 Production targeting, 154 production target enforcing, 155 production target monitoring, 155

**Q**

Qualitative content analysis, 120

#### **R**

Reflexive research paradigm, 102, 103 Regulation, 297 Relational approaches, 79–81, 94, 293 Research design, 101

#### **S**

Saving groups, 214 Scale, 59, 82 Scale-jumping, 5 Sexual harassment, 247 Shahi, 264, 267–271 Single embedded case study, 104 Social Dialogue Programs, 177, 178 Social movement unionism, 51, 290 Social standards, 159 Sourcing relations, 85, 158, 282 Space, 81 Spaces of labour agency, 7, 89, 93, 94, 210, 272, 285 spaces of collaboration, 90, 210, 244, 251, 272, 286 spaces of contestation, 90, 210, 233, 253, 263, 272, 276, 286

spaces of organising, 90, 210, 213, 243, 258, 270, 272, 285 Structuration, 107 Supplier pools, 160 Supply Chain Act, 4 Surplus value, 29

#### **T**

Target factories, 229, 249 Territoriality, 19, 82 Textile and Garment Policy, 195, 200 Theoretical reconstruction, 107 TIE ExChains network, 65, 231, 232, 240 Tier one suppliers, 133 Training and migration regime, 199 Transnational campaigns, 58

#### **U**

Union-busting, 182, 185, 236 Upgrading, 26 economic upgrading, 26 social upgrading, 26 Up-scaling, 5, 60, 62, 256

#### **V**

Value, 21

#### **W**

Wage relations, 85, 165, 282 Wage theft, 165, 169 Workplace committees, 176 Workplace relations, 85, 172, 282


2.3.1. Hyperpolarized 13C CD-Based Contrast Agents

Due to the high signal enhancement, molecular imaging using HP 13C-containing molecule becomes possible. β-CD was used to create a contrast for HP 13C MRI [86]. Keshari et al. showed that the host–guest interaction between a β-CD cavity and HP benzoic acid substantially decrease the T1 relaxation of both HP 13C nuclei resulting in negative image contrast (decrease in signal intensity) induced by the presence of supramolecular cage (Figure 7). Based on this result, the authors proposed that similar mechanism of the negative contrast can be used to study the interaction of ligand–receptor pairs in vivo. *Molecules* **2020**, *25*, x FOR PEER REVIEW 11 of 27 relaxation of both HP 13C nuclei resulting in negative image contrast (decrease in signal intensity) induced by the presence of supramolecular cage (Figure 7). Based on this result, the authors proposed that similar mechanism of the negative contrast can be used to study the interaction of ligand– receptor pairs in vivo.

**Figure 7.** In vitro experiment at 14T demonstrating the potential application of β-CD as a contrast agent for hyperpolarized (HP) 13C MRI. (**a**) Proton gradient echo image demonstrating the position of phantoms with a different concentration of β-CD (0–10 mM). The HP 13C imaging was performed after the administration of 2.5 mM HP [1-13C] benzoic acid. It can be seen that the MRI signal decreases with β-CD concentration. (**b**) Relative MRI 13C signal dependence on β-CD concentration [86]. The images are reprinted with permission from publisher [86]. **Figure 7.** In vitro experiment at 14T demonstrating the potential application of β-CD as a contrast agent for hyperpolarized (HP) 13C MRI. (**a**) Proton gradient echo image demonstrating the position of phantoms with a different concentration of β-CD (0–10 mM). The HP 13C imaging was performed after the administration of 2.5 mM HP [1-13C] benzoic acid. It can be seen that the MRI signal decreases with β-CD concentration. (**b**) Relative MRI 13C signal dependence on β-CD concentration [86]. The images are reprinted with permission from publisher [86].

DNP was used to create a CD contrast agent for DNP HP MRI [87]. Caracciolo et al. observed the polarization level of 10%. Unfortunately, the T1 relaxation of β-CD protons was equal to 1s at 300 K, which made HP β-CD inapplicable for molecular imaging purposes. On the other hand, HP β-CD can be of interest in the fields, which require the production of strong 1H NMR signal from CD molecules [87]. Following this work was the hyperpolarization of methylated β-CD [88]. The methylation has been conducted using 13CH3I, which enriched the potential contrast agent with 13C and 1H nuclei. Methylated β-CDs underwent DNP and polarization levels of 7.5 and 7% were achieved for 1H and 13C, respectively. The proton T1 relaxation times were found to be similar to those published in [87]; however, the T1 relaxation time of 13C nuclei was equal to 3.3 and 4.9 s for fully methylated β-CDs and partially methylated β-CDs, respectively. These relaxation times allow further DNP was used to create a CD contrast agent for DNP HP MRI [87]. Caracciolo et al. observed the polarization level of 10%. Unfortunately, the T1 relaxation of β-CD protons was equal to 1s at 300 K, which made HP β-CD inapplicable for molecular imaging purposes. On the other hand, HP β-CD can be of interest in the fields, which require the production of strong 1H NMR signal from CD molecules [87]. Following this work was the hyperpolarization of methylated β-CD [88]. The methylation has been conducted using 13CH3I, which enriched the potential contrast agent with 13C and 1H nuclei. Methylated β-CDs underwent DNP and polarization levels of 7.5 and 7% were achieved for 1H and 13C, respectively. The proton T1 relaxation times were found to be similar to those published in [87]; however, the T1 relaxation time of 13C nuclei was equal to 3.3 and 4.9 s for fully methylated β-CDs and partially methylated β-CDs, respectively. These relaxation times allow further application of HP β-CD as contrast agents in the molecular imaging field. In addition, authors demonstrated the method of further increasing relaxation times [88].

#### demonstrated the method of further increasing relaxation times [88]. 2.3.2. CD-Based Molecular Probes for Hyperpolarized 129Xe MRI

widely used in the field of molecular imaging using HP 129Xe.

2.3.2. CD-Based Molecular Probes for Hyperpolarized 129Xe MRI Current studies of molecular imaging with HP 129Xe MRI utilizes hyperpolarized chemical exchange saturation transfer (HyperCEST) [89,90]. The HyperCEST effect relies on a constant chemical exchange between the dissolved HP 129Xe nuclei in the solution and supramolecular host Current studies of molecular imaging with HP 129Xe MRI utilizes hyperpolarized chemical exchange saturation transfer (HyperCEST) [89,90]. The HyperCEST effect relies on a constant chemical exchange between the dissolved HP 129Xe nuclei in the solution and supramolecular host that can effectively encapsulate 129Xe [79]. Following selective depolarization of the 129Xe nuclei encapsulated in the supramolecular cage, the decrease in the dissolved phase 129Xe MRI signal can be observed as a result of the exchange dynamic [79,89].

application of HP β-CD as contrast agents in the molecular imaging field. In addition, authors

that can effectively encapsulate 129Xe [79]. Following selective depolarization of the 129Xe nuclei encapsulated in the supramolecular cage, the decrease in the dissolved phase 129Xe MRI signal can be observed as a result of the exchange dynamic [79,89]. The interaction between HP 129Xe and the α-CD cavity was studied for the first time in 1997 [91]. The interaction between HP 129Xe and the α-CD cavity was studied for the first time in 1997 [91]. Authors observed that spin polarization induced nuclear Overhauser effect (SPINOE) and related transfer of nuclear polarization to the α-CD protons [91]. However, this approach did not become widely used in the field of molecular imaging using HP 129Xe.

Authors observed that spin polarization induced nuclear Overhauser effect (SPINOE) and related transfer of nuclear polarization to the α-CD protons [91]. However, this approach did not become CD-based contrast agents for HyperCEST molecular imaging became of interest recently. The first detection of HyperCEST effect using α-CD-based molecules was achieved from the

observed HyperCEST depletion was equal to 30%, which is significantly smaller compared to other molecular imaging probes [89,93]. The first β-CD-based molecular imaging probe for HyperCEST detection has been developed recently [94]. The HyperCEST contrast agent was realized as cucurbit[6]uril-based rotaxane in which β-CDs played the role of a stopper. Although rotaxane interaction with 129Xe was through cucurbit[6]uril cavity and no HyperCEST effect was observed from β-CDs, the presence of β-CDs was required in order to increase the solubility of the end groups [94].

CD-based contrast agents for HyperCEST molecular imaging became of interest recently. The

α-CD pseudorotaxane complex with five carbon diethylimidazolium bar in aqueous solution [92]. The observed HyperCEST depletion was equal to 30%, which is significantly smaller compared to other molecular imaging probes [89,93]. The first β-CD-based molecular imaging probe for HyperCEST detection has been developed recently [94]. The HyperCEST contrast agent was realized as cucurbit[6]uril-based rotaxane in which β-CDs played the role of a stopper. Although rotaxane interaction with 129Xe was through cucurbit[6]uril cavity and no HyperCEST effect was observed from β-CDs, the presence of β-CDs was required in order to increase the solubility of the end groups [94]. *Molecules* **2020**, *25*, x FOR PEER REVIEW 12 of 27

Finally, the HyperCEST effect from γ-CD-based pseudorotaxane was observed after the complexation of γ-CD with bisimidazolium guest [95]. Although γ-CD cavity is too large to sufficiently interact with HP 129Xe, the cavity size can be decreased by threading it with a long alkyl chain. Threading these guest molecules through the cavity of γ-CD reduces the cavity size in order for adequate HP 129Xe binding to occur, thus making it suitable for HyperCEST detection (Figure 8a). Potentially, this same concept can be applied for any supramolecular cage with a reasonably large cavity. The HyperCEST effect detected from γ-CD-based pseudorotaxanes was equal to 47.5% on average, which makes them interesting candidates for further application in vivo [95]. The main advantage of the HyperCEST contrast agents based on pseudorotaxane architecture over the other studied HP 129Xe hosts is the ease synthesis and of functionalization of the pseudorotaxanes. Finally, the HyperCEST effect from γ-CD-based pseudorotaxane was observed after the complexation of γ-CD with bisimidazolium guest [95]. Although γ-CD cavity is too large to sufficiently interact with HP 129Xe, the cavity size can be decreased by threading it with a long alkyl chain. Threading these guest molecules through the cavity of γ-CD reduces the cavity size in order for adequate HP 129Xe binding to occur, thus making it suitable for HyperCEST detection (Figure 8a). Potentially, this same concept can be applied for any supramolecular cage with a reasonably large cavity. The HyperCEST effect detected from γ-CD-based pseudorotaxanes was equal to 47.5% on average, which makes them interesting candidates for further application in vivo [95]*.* The main advantage of the HyperCEST contrast agents based on pseudorotaxane architecture over the other studied HP 129Xe hosts is the ease synthesis and of functionalization of the pseudorotaxanes.

**Figure 8.** (**a**) Schematic representation of how CD-based ternary complexes are formed in the presence of HP 129Xe. The guest is threaded through the hydrophobic cavity of cyclodextrin and HP 129Xe is introduced. Detection via HyperCEST is obtained in order to determine if HP 129Xe is bound in the cavity of CD. The images are reprinted with permission from publisher [95]. (**b**) The developed cyclodextrin-based pseudorotaxane used for in vitro HyperCEST detection [95]. **Figure 8.** (**a**) Schematic representation of how CD-based ternary complexes are formed in the presence of HP 129Xe. The guest is threaded through the hydrophobic cavity of cyclodextrin and HP 129Xe is introduced. Detection via HyperCEST is obtained in order to determine if HP 129Xe is bound in the cavity of CD. The images are reprinted with permission from publisher [95]. (**b**) The developed cyclodextrin-based pseudorotaxane used for in vitro HyperCEST detection [95].

In addition, γ-CD pseudorotaxane complexes prove to be a sufficient paradigm for HP 129Xe MRI. The synthesis of the threads proceeds in one step and can be functionalized with different In addition, γ-CD pseudorotaxane complexes prove to be a sufficient paradigm for HP 129Xe MRI. The synthesis of the threads proceeds in one step and can be functionalized with different terminal

terminal end groups as well as different chain lengths. The 8- and 10-carbon alkyl chains were

maximum HyperCEST depletion for γ-CD pseudorotaxanes was present when the samples were irradiated at a frequency of +128 ppm [95]. γ-CD pseudorotaxanes exhibited binding on the order of 103 at 1:1 host–guest complexation, proving to be sufficient association for HP 129Xe. In addition, binding proved to be two magnitudes of order lower in fetal bovine serum, indicating that this system

would work sufficiently as a potential biosensor in vivo [95].

end groups as well as different chain lengths. The 8- and 10-carbon alkyl chains were functionalized with ethylimidazoliums (Figure 8b), strategically used to enhance water solubility of the inherently hydrophobic alkyl chain [95]. The γ-CD pseudorotaxane was comparable to that of CB6, a known xenon cage that has been responsive to in vivo HP 129Xe MRI [80]. Similar to CB6, the maximum HyperCEST depletion for γ-CD pseudorotaxanes was present when the samples were irradiated at a frequency of +128 ppm [95]. γ-CD pseudorotaxanes exhibited binding on the order of 103 at 1:1 host–guest complexation, proving to be sufficient association for HP 129Xe. In addition, binding proved to be two magnitudes of order lower in fetal bovine serum, indicating that this system would work sufficiently as a potential biosensor in vivo [95]. *Molecules* **2020**, *25*, x FOR PEER REVIEW 13 of 27

#### **3. CDs-Based Contrast Agent for Ultrasound Imaging and Photoacoustic Imaging 3. CDs-Based Contrast Agent for Ultrasound Imaging and Photoacoustic Imaging**

In addition to MRI contrast agents, CDs have been used for ultrasound (US) imaging. The first approach of synthetizing the potential contrast agent was developed by Cavalieri et al., in 2006 [96]. Air-filled polymer microbubbles functionalized with β-CDs were used as a source for contrast. The contrast originates from significant difference between acoustic impedance of tissue and air encapsulated inside of a microbubble. Cavalieri et al. found that conjugating microbubbles to β-CD preserves them from random coil to α- helix conformation transition. In addition, due to the presence of β-CD, these contrasts allow hosting molecules with hydrophobic features [96]. In addition to MRI contrast agents, CDs have been used for ultrasound (US) imaging. The first approach of synthetizing the potential contrast agent was developed by Cavalieri et al., in 2006 [96]. Air-filled polymer microbubbles functionalized with β-CDs were used as a source for contrast. The contrast originates from significant difference between acoustic impedance of tissue and air encapsulated inside of a microbubble. Cavalieri et al. found that conjugating microbubbles to β-CD preserves them from random coil to α- helix conformation transition. In addition, due to the presence of β-CD, these contrasts allow hosting molecules with hydrophobic features [96].

After nearly a decade of inactivity, the second attempt of using a β-CD-based contrast agent for US imaging was made in 2015 [44]. The authors demonstrated use of a perfluorinated FC-77/ β-CD complex. A visible blurring of signal from FC-77/β-CD caused by a disruption of the inclusion complexes under US was detected [44]. After nearly a decade of inactivity, the second attempt of using a β-CD-based contrast agent for US imaging was made in 2015 [44]. The authors demonstrated use of a perfluorinated FC-77/ β-CD complex. A visible blurring of signal from FC-77/β-CD caused by a disruption of the inclusion complexes under US was detected [44].

Another US medical imaging modality that utilized CD-based contrast agents was PAI. The first CD-based contrast agent was synthetized by surface modification of oleic-acid (OA) stabilized upconversional NPs (UCNPs) NaYF4:Yb3+, Er3+ with α-CD [49]. α-CD formed an inclusion complexes with an OA yielding to luminescence quenching of UCNPs and production of a strong PA signal instead (Figure 9a). Cytotoxicity studies demonstrated no toxicity of α-CD/UCNPs contrast agents. Following in vitro imaging (Figure 9b), the first PAI in a living mouse was conducted using 980 nm excitation laser. These results demonstrated the ability of α-CD/UCNPs to be an efficient PAI contrast agent for diagnostic purposes [49]. Another US medical imaging modality that utilized CD-based contrast agents was PAI. The first CD-based contrast agent was synthetized by surface modification of oleic-acid (OA) stabilized upconversional NPs (UCNPs) NaYF4:Yb3+, Er3+ with α-CD [49]. α-CD formed an inclusion complexes with an OA yielding to luminescence quenching of UCNPs and production of a strong PA signal instead (Figure 9a). Cytotoxicity studies demonstrated no toxicity of α-CD/UCNPs contrast agents. Following in vitro imaging (Figure 9b), the first PAI in a living mouse was conducted using 980 nm excitation laser. These results demonstrated the ability of α-CD/UCNPs to be an efficient PAI contrast agent for diagnostic purposes [49].

**Figure 9.** (**a**) High-resolution PA signal originated from upconversional NPs (UCNPs) in cyclohexane (black curve), distilled water (green curve), and α-CD/UCNPs (red curve) in water. The excitation was conducted using 980 nm nanosecond pulsed laser. (**b**) Photo-acoustic imaging (PAI) of tissuemimicking phantom containing chambers filled with α-CD/UCN in water (green arrow) and distilled water (white arrow) [49]. The images are reprinted with permission from the publisher [49]. **Figure 9.** (**a**) High-resolution PA signal originated from upconversional NPs (UCNPs) in cyclohexane (black curve), distilled water (green curve), and α-CD/UCNPs (red curve) in water. The excitation was conducted using 980 nm nanosecond pulsed laser. (**b**) Photo-acoustic imaging (PAI) of tissue-mimicking phantom containing chambers filled with α-CD/UCN in water (green arrow) and distilled water (white arrow) [49]. The images are reprinted with permission from the publisher [49].

demonstrated the ability to serve as a contrast agent for non-invasive diagnostic of PJI [48].

tumor-selective theranostic agent [47].

An effective PAI agent for imaging prosthetic joint infection (PJI) [48] was demonstrated by conjugation of β-CD to indocyanine green (ICG). The β-CD-ICG PAI agent was demonstrated in the

Yu et al. recently developed a CD-based PAI contrast agent sensitive to tumor environment [47]. Gold NPs (AuNP) were modified initially with pyridine-2-imine-terminated single stand DNA via gold-thiol bonds, and α-CDs were capped on the end of DNA through hydrophobic interaction with CD's cavity. The α-CD-AuNP agent produced no PA signal under neutral pH conditions, but upon entering the tumor, α-CDs separate from the DNA ends due to reduction in non-covalent forces. This study demonstrated that a developed α-CD-AuNP contrast agent can be successfully used as a

An effective PAI agent for imaging prosthetic joint infection (PJI) [48] was demonstrated by conjugation of β-CD to indocyanine green (ICG). The β-CD-ICG PAI agent was demonstrated in the mice model of PJI. Wang et al. found that conjugation of ICG to β-CD improves its PA signal generation. Although the PAI signal increase was not significant with β-CD-ICG contrast, it still demonstrated the ability to serve as a contrast agent for non-invasive diagnostic of PJI [48].

Yu et al. recently developed a CD-based PAI contrast agent sensitive to tumor environment [47]. Gold NPs (AuNP) were modified initially with pyridine-2-imine-terminated single stand DNA via gold-thiol bonds, and α-CDs were capped on the end of DNA through hydrophobic interaction with CD's cavity. The α-CD-AuNP agent produced no PA signal under neutral pH conditions, but upon entering the tumor, α-CDs separate from the DNA ends due to reduction in non-covalent forces. This study demonstrated that a developed α-CD-AuNP contrast agent can be successfully used as a tumor-selective theranostic agent [47].


**2.2 Zeolites**

Zeolites were found in 1756 and since then their use has spread out in chemical industries for catalysis, adsorption, separation, and a great variety of other applications. 35,232 patents with the title including "zeolite\*" are documented by Derwent Innovations Index as of January 2, 2020 and around 30,271 publications with "zeolite\*" in their title are recorded by the Web of Science Core Collection in the same date. Although there is a lot of work and advancement in the science and technology related to zeolites, fundamental research on them and their applications have a great deal of relevancy [5].

Zeolites in its natural mineral presentation are found in several parts of the world but most zeolites used are produced by synthesis [8, 9]. Differences between natural and synthetic zeolites include: 1) Synthetics are obtained from chemicals and naturals are processed mines, 2) Synthetic zeolites silica to alumina ratio is 1 to 1 and natural clinoptilolite zeolites is 5 to 1 ratio, 3) clinoptilolite zeolite do not break down in mildly acid environment, synthetic zeolites do break. Natural zeolite structure has more acid resistant silica to keep its structure together [9].

Zeolite is a microporous (<2 nm) material comprising crystalline aluminosilicate with various structures [10, 11]. Over 200 types of zeolites have been reported [12] with pore diameters between 0.25 and 1 nm [13] and possess good selectivity properties [14–16]. In catalytic applications, zeolite framework structure is an assembly made of AlO4 and SiO4 tetrahedra able to provide Brønsted and Lewis acid sites inside the micropore [17–20]. For example, Brønsted acid sites in synthetic zeolites, such as zeolite Y and ZSM-5, are responsible for the catalytic cracking reaction in oil refinery [21].

Hierarchical porous zeolite addresses issues with porous size. Under its perspective, there are three types of porosity according to pore size, micropore (<2 nm), mesopore (2–50 nm), and macropore (>50 nm) [22]. Zeolites may be considered a family of crystalline aluminosilicates consisting of orderly distributed molecular sized nanopores. Their structure benefits adsorption of guest molecules with specific sizes and shapes or separation processes for liquid or gas mixtures as molecular sieves [23, 24]. In addition, zeolites with guest species, coupled with acid or metal sites, enables shape-selective catalysis [25–27]. Zeolites are considered the most important solid catalysts in petrochemical industries [28–31]. Zeolitic materials are also promising in a wide variety of applications, including renewable energy and environmental improvement [32].

Properties of zeolites are directly related with their nanoporous framework structures, so TO4 tetrahedra ("T" denotes tetrahedrally coordinated Si, Al, P, etc.) is fundamental [33]. According to the literature [22], 235 types of zeolite frameworks have been discovered [12], however, there is still a high demand for improved zeolitic materials with new structures and superior functions. In addition, new technology trends are giving a new impulse to zeolite research, such is the case of nanotechnology where nanostructured zeolite or interactions of zeolite with nanostructured materials have captured the interest of researchers. Soil may be counted among the more interesting interactions with zeolite.

### **2.3 Soil**

The Soil Science Society of America has published two definitions for soil. One is "*The unconsolidated mineral or organic material on the immediate surface of the earth that serves as a natural medium for the growth of land plants*." The second definition may be more inclusive and says soil is "*The unconsolidated mineral or organic matter on the surface of the earth that has been subjected to and shows the effects of genetic and*

*environmental factors of: climate (including water and temperature effects) and macroand microorganisms, conditioned by relief, acting on parent material over a period of time*" [34, 35].

A soil detailed definition depends upon physical, chemical, biological, and morphological properties, and characteristics. Their effect on soil management decisions is critical in any case the soil is to be used in either crop production, in an urban setting, or for roads, dams, waste disposal, and other uses [35].

Soil is a porous media at the land surface formed by weathering processes mediated by biological, geological, and hydrological phenomena. Soil is different than weathered rock because it shows a vertical stratification (the soil horizons) that has been produced by the influence of percolating water and living organisms. From a chemistry perspective, soils are open, multicomponent, biogeochemical systems containing solids, liquids, and gases. Open systems mean soils exchange matter and energy with the surrounding atmosphere, biosphere, and hydrosphere. Such exchange is highly variable, but it is the essential flux that cause the development of soil profiles and the patterns of soil quality [36].

Generally, soil is formed by fragmented and chemically weathered rock which includes sand, silt, and clay separates, and contains humus (partially decomposed organic matter). Soil diversity is huge, because of the different regional circumstances, it varies considerably. If properties of soil are known, it may be effectively managed and succeed at a specific use or purpose.

The major elements in soils exceed a concentration of 100 mg-kg1 , all others are known as trace elements. According to multiple reports, the major elements include O, Si, Al, Fe, C, K, Ca, Na, Mg, Ti, N, S, Ba, Mn, P, and perhaps Sr and Zr, in decreasing order of concentration. The major elements C, N, P, and S also are macronutrients, so they are critical to life cycles and may be absorbed by organisms in significant amounts [36].


*3.2. Residual Stresses*

Figures 7 and 8 illustrate the in-depth residual stresses in the circumferential and tangential directions induced by each finishing process. In the circumferential direction, residual stresses induced by grinding and by sequential grinding and honing have similar trends; they start out compressive at the machined surface (−186 and −290 MPa, respectively) and become tensile at the subsurface depth. Then, they are stabilized at around 50 MPa. The affected depth of residual stress is around approximately 15 μm. Mao et al. [15] showed that phase transformation in the white layer formed by grinding plays an essential role in the build-up of tensile residual stresses. This implies that the predominant factor is deformation, which leads to compressive stresses. As shown in the investigations of Pape et al. [36], residual stresses for ground and honed bearings are compressively closely adjacent to the surface (−500 MPa) and eliminated at a depth of about 20 μm. However, residual stresses induced by precision hard turning show significant differences from those induced by grinding and by sequential grinding and honing. Indeed, they exhibit a "hook"-shaped profile along the depth with maximum compressive value (−680 MPa) at the subsurface depth of 25 μm. Additionally, the affected depth of residual stress is greater for precision hard turning (around 50 μm). These results are in agreement with those reported by Smith et al. [21], who revealed similar differences in the stress states generated by hard turning and grinding processes. They found that the overall residual stress state is significantly more compressive on the hard-turned surface than on the ground surface. Matsumoto et al. [23] reported that the depth of compressive residual stresses is the major difference between hard-turned and ground surfaces. Considering the difference between the plastic deformation that takes place on the ground surface and that on the hard-turned

surface, it is reasonable to expect that the compressive residual stress generated by hard turning is deeper, which may improve the fatigue life of rolling bearings. Otherwise, the results show that the white layers induced in both hard turning and grinding processes possess compression residual stresses. Hosseini et al. [35] showed that compressive residual stresses and decreased retained austenite content were found in the plastically created white layer. Residual stresses in the tangential direction (Figure 8) display similar trends to those described in the circumferential direction. Both grinding and sequential grinding and honing induce compressive and maximum residual stresses (respectively, −186 and −290 MPa) at the machined surface and become tensile at the subsurface depth. Residual stresses induced by precision hard turning start out compressive (−437 MPa) at the machined surface and exhibit a maximum compressive value of −800 MPa at the subsurface depth of 30 μm before stabilizing at the level. The residual stresses in the tangential direction are more compressive than those in the circumferential direction.

**Figure 7.** Residual stresses in circumferential direction.

**Depth below surface (μm)**

**Figure 8.** Residual stresses in tangential direction.

#### *3.3. Rolling Contact Fatigue (RCF) Performance*

Surface integrity induced by finishing processes significantly affects the functional performance of machined components. To investigate rolling contact fatigue performance, contact fatigue tests were performed on a twin-disc testing machine. Figure 9 presents RCF life per million cycles as a function of the three finishing processes under investigation. For each finished ring, two tests were carried out on each specimen, i.e., each test on one raceway, under the same conditions. The rings finished by precision hard turning have the longest life (5.2 million cycles), while rings finished by grinding (Ra = 0.2 μm) have the shortest (1.2 million cycles). The rings finished by sequential grinding and honing (Ra = 0.05 μm) reach 3.2 million cycles. This shows that using the honing process after grinding improves the fatigue life of bearing rings by 2.6 times. Grinding and sequential grinding and honing have similar residual stress distributions, maximum and compressive at the machined surface and tensile at the subsurface depth. The enhancement of the lifetime is due to the high quality of surface roughness obtained by the grinding process. Precision hard turning offers better fatigue life due to the low surface roughness, as well as the residual stress state, which is compressive and maximum at the subsurface depth. The residual stress distributions are of considerable importance; several investigations have reported that compressive residual stresses induced by the manufacturing process can extend the fatigue life of bearings up to 2.5 times [20,23,37]. Low surface roughness and subsurface residual stresses are the key parameters for extending bearing fatigue life.

**Figure 9.** RCF life vs. finishing processes.

Furthermore, it is well known that residual stresses can be developed during the RCF test due to cyclic plastically [38]. Thus, changes in in-depth residual stresses during the RCF test of ring specimens finished by grinding were investigated due to their shortest fatigue life. The experimental simulation of rolling contact fatigue has two phases: a runningin phase called break-in and a bearing life phase. The running-in phase is estimated at 30,000 cycles under these test conditions [28]. After the running-in phase, the contact geometry is stabilized for the entire lifetime. Table 2 illustrates the Hertzian pressure for 600 and 1100 daN normal loads used in the experimental simulation and the RCF life of the ring finished by grinding. This table shows decreasing Hertzian pressure from 3.8 to 3.6 GPa for 600 daN and from 4.5 to 3.8 GPa for 110 daN.

**Table 2.** Hertizian pressure variations after running-in and RCF life of rings finished by grinding.

Figures 10 and 11 show the in-depth residual stresses with varying loads (650 and 1100 daN) after grinding (initial), after the running-in phase, and at the end of the RCF test. Before the RCF test, the ring specimen (initial) exhibits compressive residual stresses at the machined surface, originating from the machining operation, and tensile residual stresses at the subsurface depth. During the RCF test, the residual stresses changed from a moderate level of tensile residual stresses to compressive residual stress at the subsurface depth. Pape et al. [36] found a similar evolution, and the residual stresses remained constant after 106 to 108 revolutions.

Figure 10 shows that during the RCF test, the evolution of circumferential residual stresses in the first 140 μm subsurface depth is not noticeable. At a larger subsurface depth, the residual stresses changed from a moderate level of tensile residual stresses (around 50 MPa for initial) to peak compressive values. Indeed, after running-in with 650 and 1100 daN applied load, the maximum residual stresses are −116 MPa at 299 μm depth and −426 MPa at 427 μm depth, respectively. At the end of the RCF test, the maximum residual stresses are −116 MPa at 299 μm depth and −404 MPa at 396 μm depth. As shown in the investigations of Voskamp [39], the compressive residual stress peaks at a depth ranging from 0.1 to 0.5 mm as the cycles increase. This depth coincides with the maximum shear stress [11,39].

Figure 11 shows that at the shallow depth, ranging from 10 to 140 μm, the tangential residual stresses are tensile and become compressive at the subsurface depth with peak compressive values. Indeed, after running-in with 650 daN and 1100 daN normal load, the maximum residual stresses are −188 MPa at 433 μm depth and −527 MPa at 447 μm depth, respectively. After the end of the RCF test, the maximum residual stresses are −380 MPa at 396 μm depth and −700 MPa at 750 μm depth. As can be seen also that in both directions the peak compressive residual stress increases with increasing the normal load.

**Figure 10.** Circumferential residual stresses after different phases.

**Figure 11.** Tangential residual stresses after different phases.


**6. Nutrition and exercise**

Nutrition is a most important issue in CKD patients. Before start of dialysis many patients have protein restricted diet. This has to be changed as soon as dialysis treatment is initiated. The protein intake has instead to be increased. Both the dialysis process and the physical activities need proteins and amino acids. We usually calculate the PCR = protein catabolic rate every month in the dialysis patients based on urea determinations before and after dialysis session and urea before the next dialysis. The patients could get feedback on their protein intake and add protein supplements if needed.

Carbohydrates are important to refill the glycogen stores in the liver and the muscles. The more glycogen, the more energy is available for the exercise. It is considered that 5-7 g/kg/day on training days are needed.

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Fats are needed, in the first hand, the essential fatty acids. But any fat to get the important energy balance is important.

Fruit and vegetables are recommended to sportsmen and sportswomen. However, due to risk of hyperpotassemia and high water content in fruits, caution is needed for patients in dialysis. The patients should have lists from dieticians to find the most proper fruits.

Vitamins are needed. Especially C-vitamins since they are removed at hemodialysis or hemofiltration (Fehrman-Ekholm et al 2008). D-vitamins are needed for the skeleton and in treatment of secondary hyperparathyroidism. Iron is necessary in anemia treatment and today most patients have intravenous iron supply at dialysis sessions.

General recommendation is to eat often and to eat after the exercise to fill up the glycogen stores again.

In co work with other team members the physical therapist works to motivate the patient to continue exercises for the rest of life. Regular check-ups by physiotherapist with knowledge of renal medicine and transplant medicine are of greatest importance to maintain maximal physical performance whatever CKD treatment the patient has. We also know that there are several national guidelines that include exercise training and physical activity as part of the treatment for problems that are common in patients with CKD, i.e. high blood pressure, hyperlipidemia and cardiovascular diseases. Within renal care and -medicine we spend a lot of time trying to find ways to optimise the outcome of the care that is given to our patients. But there is already an easy, low-tech intervention that has multiple advantages for these patients' health and well-being, but which hasn't been implemented as a part of the standard care for patients with CKD: Exercise training and physical activity in daily living! Another question is if aerobic exercise and strength training starting early in renal disease could play an important role in prevention or progression of CKD (Moinuddin et al 2008).


**Author details**

*Bioactive Compounds - Biosynthesis, Characterization and Applications*

of bone resorption [137].

d.**Anthocyanidins**

fruits and vegetables.

shown below.

e.**Flavan-3-ol**

from dihydroflavanol.

Common isoflavones include daidzin, genistin, biochanin A, and formononetin [130]. Isoflavones exhibit antioxidant, anticancer, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antiosteoporotic, and estrogenic properties [131–136]. Several studies have also shown that isoflavonoids may contribute to other multiple additional health benefits by reducing cardiovascular risk, osteoporosis, and decreasing the intensity

Anthocyanidins are a group of phytochemicals, which are natural pigments responsible for blue, red, purple and orange colors present in many fruits and vegetables and many fruits- and vegetable-based food products. Over and above 500 different anthocyanidins are known and described in the literature [138, 139]. This flavonoid group dominates teas, honey, fruits, vegetables, nuts, olive oil, cocoa and cereals. They can also be found in berries (e.g. black currant, blueberries, strawberries, elderberries), their juices, as well as red wine [140]. Cyanidin, pelargonidin, delphinidin, malvidin, petunidin and peonidin are the most common anthocyanidins present in

The number and position of the hydroxyl and methoxyl moiety is the determinant of different types of anthocyanidins [141]. Anthocyanidins have been reported to have some essential pharmacological role in cardiovascular disease, cholesterol decomposition, visual acuity, as well as antioxidant efficacy, and cytotoxicity [142]. Anthocyanidins can be synthesized as

The most common flavonoids in the diet, flavan-3-ols are considered functional ingredients of beverages, fruits and vegetables, food grains, herbal remedies, dietary supplements, and dairy products. Flavan-3-ols have been reported to exhibit several pharmacological effects by acting as an antioxidant, anticarcinogen, cardio-preventive, antimicrobial, anti-viral, and neuroprotective agents [143]. Flavan-3-ol can be synthesized as shown below,

**130**

InnocentMary IfedibaluChukwu Ejiofor\* and Maria-Goretti Chikodili Igbokwe Department of Pharmacognosy and Traditional Medicine, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria

\*Address all correspondence to<EMAIL_ADDRESS>
© 2021 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.