Special Study: Biochemistry

This Nuffield Advanced Chemistry Special Study enabled students to see something of the scope of the field of biochemistry, and to appreciate its dependence upon chemical principles The objectives were: *to show the fundamental chemical nature of living processes. *to consider the similarity of the chemical constituents and chemical processes in all living organisms *to study the structure of the major chemical constituents in living systems *to investigate and discuss the nature of catalysis in biochemical reactions *to show that organisms have evolved more than one chemical solution to a given problem posed by the environment *to consider the energy requirements of living organisms *to discuss the industrial, agricultural, and medical applications of biochemistry in everyday life.

Contents

Introduction Chapter 1: Biochemistry in its biological context Chapter 2: The chemical sub-units: the monomers Chapter 3: Complex molecules Chapter 4: Polymers Chapter 5: Metabolism Chapter 6: Biochemistry and commerce Chapter 7: Agricultural aspects of biochemistry Chapter 8: Medical aspects of biochemistry Chapter 9: Experimental investigations An introductory series Chapter 10: Experimental investigations An extension series