Abstract
Within every living organism, countless reactions occur every second. These reactions typically occur more rapidly and with greater efficiency than would be possible under the same conditions in the chemical laboratory, and while using only the subset of elements that are readily available in nature. Despite these apparent differences between life and the laboratory, biological reactions are governed by the same rules as any other chemical reaction. Thus, a firm understanding of the fundamentals of chemistry is invaluable in biochemistry. There are entire textbooks devoted to the application of chemical principles in biological systems and so it is not possible to cover all of the relevant topics in depth in this short article. The aim is instead to provide a brief overview of those areas in chemistry that are most relevant to biochemistry. We summarize the basic principles, give examples of how these principles are applied in biological systems and suggest further reading on individual topics.
Highlights
Biochemical systems carry out an enormous variety of chemical reactions with great efficiency
Enzymes are employed to increase the rate of reaction; enzymes are proteins whose substrate-binding site acts to lower the energy of high energy species along the reaction pathway from starting material to product
In order to be exploited in a biological system, elements must be sufficiently abundant in a form that can be taken up by living things
Summary
Biochemical systems carry out an enormous variety of chemical reactions with great efficiency. Delocalization of electron density across three p-orbitals is important in explaining why the bond formed between two amino acids in a protein chain is planar (see Functional groups found in amino acids section). Nitrogen and sulphur all have lone pairs of electrons that can form new covalent bonds in a chemical reaction; amines in particular are reactive towards protons, forming –NH3+ at physiological pH (see pH and pKa section).
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