CHEMISTRY-VIII NOTES PREPARED BY Dr.

DHONDIBA VISHWANATH SURYAWANSHI, GFGC KR PURAM BENGALURU-36

Introduction to Biochemistry 2 hours Max. Marks: 5-6

Contributions of Lavosier, Wohler, Emil Fischer, Louis Pasteur, Embden,
Meyerhof, Parnas. Hans Kreb, Michaelis and Menton, Watson and Crick,
Chargaff, H.G. Khorana, Knoop, Pauling, Hopkins and Miescher. Elemental and
biochemical composition of living organisms. Role of water in biochemical
systems (mention the properties of water such as dielectric constant, surface
tension, heat of vaporization, MP and BP & specific heat which makes water a
solvent of life).

Introduction to biochemistry:

The term biochemistry is derived from the Greek word bios means life and
chemistry means study of chemical reactions. Therefore the branch of science
which deals with the study of simplest to complicated chemical reactions occurs in
the living things like plants and animals, especially in organism called
biochemistry.

Characteristics of living things:

1) The living things are structurally complicated and highly organized. They
contain many kinds of complex molecules.
2) They extract, transform and use energy from their environment, usually in
the form of nutrient molecules or solar energy. This energy enables living
this to build and maintain their own intricate structure
3) The most characteristic feature of living things is their ability to reproduce
their own kind(self replication)

The following scientists are contributed for the development of biochemistry

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CHEMISTRY-VIII NOTES PREPARED BY Dr. DHONDIBA VISHWANATH SURYAWANSHI, GFGC KR PURAM BENGALURU-36

1) Antoine Lavoisier: In the 1789 Antoine Lavoisier discovered the concept of

oxidation and compared oxidation to the process of respiration.
2) Wohler: In the 1828 Wohler synthesized the first organic compound urea
from inorganic components
3) Louis Pasteur: In the 1843 Louis Pasteur identified the stereoisomers of
tartaric acid and proposed the concept of optical activity. In 1860 he also
proved that fermentation is caused by microorganisms.
4) Meischer: In 1869 Meischer discovered the DNA
5) Emil Fischer: In 1894 Emil Fischer demonstrated the specificity of
enzymes and the lock and key theory for enzyme substrate interaction.
6) Franz Knoop: In 1904 Franz Knoop deduced the mechanism of oxidation
of fatty acids
7) Leonor Michaelis and Maud Menten: In 1913 Leonor Michaelis and
Maud Menten elucidated the mechanism of enzyme action
8) Hans Krebs: In 1937 Hans Krebs elucidated the citric acid cycle by a
central metabolic pathway.
9) Linus Pauling and Robert Corey: In 1950 Linus Pauling and Robert Corey
proposed the α- helical structure of proteins based on X –ray diffraction
studies
10) Edwin Chargaff: In 1950 Edwin Chargaff discovered that the ratio of
adenine to thymine and guanine to cytosine in all samples of DNA were
nearly equal to 1
𝑨 𝑮
= =𝟏
𝑻 𝑪

11) James Watson and Francis Crick: In 1953 James Watson and
Francis Crick proposed the double helical structure of DNA

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CHEMISTRY-VIII NOTES PREPARED BY Dr. DHONDIBA VISHWANATH SURYAWANSHI, GFGC KR PURAM BENGALURU-36

12) H Gobind Khorana: In 1965 H G Khorana elucidated the features of

genetic code by using nucleotides of known base sequence.
13) Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas: Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas were
discovered the glycolysis process by metabolic pathway for the formation of
ATP.
14) Hopkins: Hopkins discovered the vitamin

Elemental and biochemical composition of living organisms:

Living organisms are composed of about 25 elements. Most of them are

relatively light elements with atomic numbers below 30. Among these, four
elements, namely carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen are universally
present and account for over 95% of the total mass of many living organisms.
Other important constituents are calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sulphur,
sodium, magnesium, chlorine and iron. Besides these a few elements namely
Cu, Zn, Mn, Co, I, Mo, V, Ni, Cr, F, Se, Si, Sn, B, As, etc are presents in trace
amount.

Most of the organic matter in living cells consists of four major types of
macromolecules. These are proteins, polysaccharides, nucleic acids and lipids.
The proteins constitute the largest fraction of living matter and they consist of
chains of amino acids. The polysaccharides are built from small sugar
molecules. The nucleic acids DNA and RNA are built from small molecules
such as sugars, phosphate and nitrogeneous bases. Individual lipid molecules
are small. However they associate together to form large structures which
function like macromolecular systems.

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CHEMISTRY-VIII NOTES PREPARED BY Dr. DHONDIBA VISHWANATH SURYAWANSHI, GFGC KR PURAM BENGALURU-36

Each component of the cell serves well defined roles in the living system. In
general they are responsible for maintaining the structure and functions of the
cell.

Role of water in biological system:

Water is the most abundant substance in living systems, making up 70% or

more of the weight of the most organisms. Water pervades all portions of every
cell and is the medium in which the transport of nutrients, the enzyme catalyzed
reactions of metabolism and the transfer of chemical energy occur. All aspects
of cell structure and function are adapted to the physical and chemical
properties of water. The evolution of life on the earth was doubtless influenced
by the following properties of water.

1) Water has high dielectric constant compared to all common liquids due to
oxygen atom having two unshared pair of electrons, oxygen atom more
electronegative than hydrogen and it is non –linear molecule having bond
angle 1040. It helps to dissolve most of the other compounds in it.
2) Besides mercury, water has the highest surface tension and high viscosity
compared to all common liquids due to having strong intermolecular
hydrogen bonding. It is exploited by plants as a means of transporting
dissolved nutrients from the roots to the leaves during the process of
transpiration.
3) Water has high heat of vaporization. It helps to getting rid of excess body
heat by using it to evaporate sweat.
4) Water has a higher melting point, boiling point than the other most
common liquids like methanol, ethanol, propanol, butanol, acetone, hexane,
benzene, chloroform, etc due to having the intermolecular hydrogen bonding

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CHEMISTRY-VIII NOTES PREPARED BY Dr. DHONDIBA VISHWANATH SURYAWANSHI, GFGC KR PURAM BENGALURU-36

5) Water has high specific heat (1 cal/g) is useful of living organisms because
it allows water to act as a heat buffer this permits the temperature of an
organism to remain relatively constant as the temperature of the
surroundings fluctuates and as heat is generated as a byproduct of
metabolism.

Thus water is absolutely essential for life not only as a universal solvent but also as
reactant in biological reaction.

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