CHEMIST VIEW OF LIFE

Carbon: The backbone of life

•Organic chemistry is the study of carbon compounds

•Carbon atoms can form diverse molecules by bonding to four other atoms

Organic chemistry is the study of carbon compounds

The term “organic” chemistry came from the misconception that carbon-based compounds were always connected to life

It mostly involves CHOPNS

Carbon atoms can form diverse molecules by bonding to four

other atomsThe key to an atom’s chemical characteristics is its

electron configuration Carbon’s valence shell is half-full…or is it half-empty?

Carbon atoms can form diverse molecules by bonding to four

other atomsCarbon usually completes its valence shell by sharing

electrons with other atoms in covalent bonds

These bonds can be single•Tetrahedral shape

Carbon atoms can form diverse molecules by bonding to four

other atomsCarbon usually completes its valence shell by sharing

electrons with other atoms in covalent bonds

Carbon can also form double bonds•Forms when two electrons are shared between two atoms•Forms a flat molecule

Molecular diversity arising from carbon skeleton variation

Sources of diversity:• Chain length• Branching• Double bonds

Molecular diversity arising from carbon skeleton variation

Sources of diversity:• Chain length• Branching• Double bonds• Ring formation

Jacobus H. van 't Hoff

In recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by the discovery of the laws of chemical dynamics and osmotic pressure in solutions

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1901

van't Hoff during his thesis work in Utrecht in 1874 published his suggestion that the carbon atom has its four valences directed towards the corners of a regular tetrahedron, a concept which is the very foundation of modern organic chemistry.

The Nobel Prize was, however, awarded for his later work on chemical kinetics and equilibria and on the osmotic pressure in solution.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1902

Hermann Emil Fischer

In recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by his work on sugar and purine syntheses.

Fischer's work is an example of the growing interest from organic chemists in biologically important substances, thus laying the foundation for the development of biochemistry, and at the time of the award Fischer mainly devoted himself to the study of proteins.

Hermann Emil Fischer

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1907

For his biochemical researches and his discovery of cell-free fermentation

Eduard Buchner

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1946

James Batcheller Sumner John Howard Northrop Wendell Meredith Stanley

for his discovery that enzymes can be crystallized

for their preparation of enzymes and virus proteins in a pure form

Perutz's greatest achievement was demonstrating that the method of 'isomorphous replacement', previously used to solve the structures of small organic compounds, could be used to crack the 'phase problem' in protein crystallography.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1958

Frederick Sanger

for his work on the structure of proteins, especially that of insulin

Edman degradation Phenylisothiocyanate is reacted with an uncharged terminal amino group, under mildly alkaline conditions, to form a cyclical phenylthiocarbamoyl derivative. under acidic conditions, this derivative of the terminal amino acid is cleaved as a thiazolinone derivative. The thiazolinone amino acid is then selectively extracted into an organic solvent and treated with acid to form the more stable phenylthiohydantoin (PTH)- amino acid derivative that can be identified by using chromatography or electrophoresis. This procedure can then be repeated again to identify the next amino acid.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1980

Paul Berg Walter Gilbert Frederick Sanger

for his fundamental studies of the biochemistry of nucleic acids, with particular regard to recombinant-DNA"

for their contributions concerning the determination of base sequences in nucleic acids"

X-ray crystallography shows the arrangement of water molecules in ice, revealing the hydrogen bonds that hold the solid together.

Fluorescent end labeling of DNA