What is Biochemistry?
Biochemistry is the application of chemistry to the study of biological processes at the cellular and molecular level. It emerged as a distinct discipline around the beginning of the 20th century when scientists combined chemistry, physiology and biology to investigate the chemistry of living systems.
Biochemistry is the study of the chemical processes and reactions that take place within living organisms. It can be considered a subdivision of both chemistry and biology, although the skills and techniques used within it place great emphasis on traditional chemistry. For a very long time, it was thought that living and non-living matter were fundamentally different. It was thought that only living beings could create special biological molecules, from other biological molecules obtained through food. These molecules were thought to be imbued with a “vital force” that made life possible. In 1828, the German chemist Freidrich Wöhler put an end to this by accidentally synthesizing the organic chemical urea — a major component of urine — from inorganic precursors. The field of biochemistry was born. Since 1828, studies in the field of biochemistry have brought us knowledge of the way plants extract energy from the Sun (photosynthesis), animals convert glucose into the energy currency of
” I want to present a serious disclaimer. The discussion that follows is a working model of a very complex subject. As it should be clear to trained scientists and scholars a model is meant to be tested and revised. I want to make it obvious that I am encouraging suggestions for revision and improvement of this model. As I begin think through all of the various way to define biochemistry, let it be understood that in no way am I trying to alienate or exclude individuals who have spent countless hours defining the field of biochemistry or its related disciplines. With that said I humbly continue… As scientific disciplines become more interrelated there arises the need to define certain boundaries. These boundaries may not have a practical use in a research paradigm but in a teaching environment, particularly with respect to specific courses, majors and instructors, there clearly is a need to have a working model of where biochemistry begins and more importantly where it ends. Rather t
Biochemistry is the study of the chemistry of the living world. Biochemists study organisms at the molecular level in order to understand how they carry out life processes. In laboratory experiments, the biochemist separates substances isolated from living cells and determines their chemical structures and properties. Then these substances are put back together under controlled conditions to find out how they interact. What does all this mean? Let’s illustrate by example. The fermentation process by which sugar from cellulosic plant wastes is chemically changed into alcohol underlies the production of gasohol. Yet the fermentation of sugars in fruit juice is one of the oldest cottage industries, having been practiced long before the word “biochemistry” ever existed. The origins of biochemistry lie in the study of these fermentation processes. Louis Pasteur discovered that transformation of sugar to alcohol is caused by a living organism, yeast. Eduard Buchner later expanded upon that c
