4. The chemistry of life

Abstract

From very simple molecular building blocks, life has created an astonishing diversity of molecules, some of which are extremely complex structures that prove very difficult to synthesize in a laboratory. ‘The chemistry of life’ describes how proteins, which serve a myriad of purposes, and nucleic acids, another form of biopolymer, are constructed from molecular building blocks called amino acids and nucleotides respectively. It goes on to explain the polymerization processes involved in the biosynthesis of many other natural products; the functions of proteins, DNA, and RNA; and the different theories proposed to explain chemical evolution, or prebiotic chemistry. Enzymes and nucleic acids are increasingly being used in commercial applications.