The Chemistry of Life

The large biological molecules in your body are essential to the organization and operation of its millions of cells. 

The structure of these molecules is directly related to their function, and how they function affects your heaith and survival. 

Visit the Chemistry Web site at chemistrymc.com to find links about the chemistry of life. 

The silk that makes up this spider s web is, gram for gram, stronger than steel, yet it is lightweight and stretchable. Spider silk is made of protein, a biological molecule. 

Fill a 400-mL beaker one-third full of water. Place this water bath on a hot plate and begin to heat it to boiling. 

The development of biochemistry as a subject may be traced to Lavoisier s work on the chemistry of life258 and to Prout and Berzelius.259 The age-old question about the nature of life has left organic chemistry with a legacy of thinking about vitalism which, despite claims to the contrary, is still associated in the popular mind with the synthesis of urea by Wohler in 1828, by which it is alleged vital forces were banished for ever from organic chemistry.260 Yet another article on the Wohler synthesis 

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W. KaIM and B. SchwederSKI, Bioinorganic Chemistry Inorganic Elements in the Chemistry of Life, Wiley, Chichester, 1994, 401 pp. 

Thomas Hager, Linus Pauling and the Chemistry of Life. Oxford University Press, NY, 142 pp., (1998). 

Frederic Lawrence Holmes. Lavoisier and the Chemistry of Life An Exploration of Scientific Creativity. Madison, WI University of Wisconsin Press, 1985. Source for Lavoisier s scientific accomplishments. 

Abstract Amino acids are the basic building blocks in the chemistry of life. This chapter describes the controllable assembly, structures and properties of lathanide(III)-transition metal-amino acid clusters developed recently by our group. The effects on the assembly of several factors of influence, such as presence of a secondary ligand, lanthanides, crystallization conditions, the ratio of metal ions to amino acids, and transition metal ions have been expounded. The dynamic balance of metalloligands and the substitution of weak coordination bonds account for the occurrence of diverse structures in this series of compounds. 

Understand fully the chemistry of life, including the chemistry of the brain and memory. 

The basic research in our fields is now done largely in universities. It can have incredibly important practical results, but those results cannot normally be predicted in advance. Who would have thought that the basic study of induced energy emission from excited states of atoms and molecules that led to the laser would wind up giving us a better way to record music, or read supermarket prices Would a music company have funded that research Who would have thought that our increased understanding of the chemistry of life would have led to the creation of biotechnology as an entirely new industry The industry that benefited from the basic research could not have funded it, since it did not yet exist. 

The process by which plants convert water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and oxygen is the basis for the chemistry of life as we know it. This process produces the oxygen needed for respiration,... 

In the study of the origin of life on earth, the element carbon is essential. Carbon is a required component of the fundamental molecules of life amino acids, bases, and sugars. In addition, a large variety of carbon compounds is necessary in the complex biochemical cycles of living organisms. The physical and chemical nature and geometry of the carbon atom make it well suited to form the vast array of molecules involved in the chemistry of life. 

Organic Chemistry A Brief Introduction by Robert J. Ouellette, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 1998, contains a super introduction to the history of DNA and heredity. Stephen Rose s now classic book The Chemistry of Life, Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1972, goes into more depth, and includes a good discussion of H-bonds in nature and DNA. The sites http //www.dna50.org.uk/index.asp and http //www.nature.com/ nature/dna50/ have good pictures and links. 

Levene, a physician by training, was by all accounts a true genius, a self-taught chemist and pioneer biochemist. The environment of the Rockefeller Institute, with its provision for research opportunities for younger scientists, was a perfect situation for Tipson to exercise his experimental research talents to the fullest while absorbing the drive and dedication manifested by Levene in addressing immensely difficult problems of the chemistry of life processes. 

Early polymer scientists examined natural polymers to gain insight into the complex chemistry that might be possible. Advances in analytical chemistry over the past 70 years have allowed detailed characterization of the chemistry of life and have provided us with an opportunity to easily revisit these early polymer discovery days and rediscover key polymer lessons from natural polymers. 

Lowry, T.M. (1936). Historical Introduction to Chemistry. Macmillan, London. Morgan, N. (1983). William Dobinson Halliburton, FRS, (1860-1931) Pioneer of British biochemistry Notes and records of the Royal Society 38, 129-145. Needham, J. (1970). The Chemistry of Life. Cambridge UP. 

Benzene is the parent molecule of a class of molecules said to be aromatic. The key feature of aromatic molecules is the delocalization of some electrons over more than two carbon atoms ( free-range electrons ). Aromatic molecules are of great importance in the chemistry of life. 

Most chemical reactions occur in solutions. This is because a substance dissolved in a solvent, the solute, will be in its smallest state of subdivision, existing as individual molecules or ions that will increase their ability to react with other molecules or ions. Most chemistry in the body takes place in solution in the absence of the solution, much of the chemistry of life would not take place. You are familiar with solutions that are liquid, like iced tea and sea water, but solutions can also be gases, like the atmosphere, or solids, like a gold ring, which is a mixture of silver dissolved in gold. 

With each of the C, P and S centers, compounds with several oxidation states are possible, thus multiplying the types of nucleophilic reactions extant. Importantly, the types of compounds cover a variety of classes each with its characteristic behaviors and reactivities, each defining a specific area in chemistry. Since the C, P and S reactive centers are incorporated in the majority of molecules in living systems it follows that the chemistry to be considered in this chapter is closely tied with the chemistry of life, i.e. bioorganic reaction mechanisms. It is known in fact that many organophosphorus and organosulfur compounds are toxic toward mammalian organisms which renders their destruction under mild conditions of critical importance. 

Optical properties of liquids are similar in many ways to those of solids. Electrically, there are metallic liquids such as mercury and molten iron, but the majority of common liquids are nonmetallic. As an illustration of a liquid we have chosen H20, a ubiquitous substance on our planet water dominates not only atmospheric processes but the chemistry of life. 

Frederic Lawrence Holmes, Lavoisier and the Chemistry of Life An Exploration of Scien-tific Creativity (Madison University of Wisconsin Press, Antoine Lavoisier The Next Crucial Year (Princeton Princeton University Press, 1998). See also Holmes, Lavoisier s Conceptual Passage, in Arthur Donovan, ed., The Chemical Revolution. Essays in Reinterpretation, Osiris 4 (1988) 82-92. This special issue of Osiris also contains C.E. Perrin, Research Traditions, Lavoisier and the Chemical Revolution, 53-81. 

The science of biochemistry can be dated to Eduard Buchner s pioneering discovery. His finding opened a world of chemistry that has inspired researchers for well over a century. Biochemistry is nothing less than the chemistry of life, and, yes, life can be investigated, analyzed, and understood. To begin, every student of biochemistry needs both a language and some fundamentals these are provided in Part I. 

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