INTRODUCTION TO BIOCHEMISTRY

LEC-01

Resource Person: Saira Iqbal

Course code: SHS-103
Semester: 01 (Fall-2019)
 REFERENCE TEXT:
Lippincott’s Illustrated Review of Biochemistry by
Pamela C. Champe and Richard A. Harvey
 OUTLINES:
❑ What is biochemistry?

❑ Application of Biochemistry

❑ Branches of Biochemistry

❑ Foundation of Biochemistry

❑ Isomerism

❑ Types of isomerism

❑ Biochemical reactions
 What is Biochemistry?

The branch of science concerned with the

chemical and physicochemical processes that
occur within living organisms.
Contd…

• Deals with the structures, functions and

interactions of biological macromolecules, such
as
– Proteins
– (DNA/ RNA) Nucleic acids
– Carbohydrates
– Lipids

• Which provide the structure of cells and perform

many of the functions associated with life.
• The chemistry of the cell also depends on the reactions
of smaller molecules and ions.

• These can be
– Inorganic molecules e.g. water, metal ions, salts.
(Do not contain carbon atoms with hydrogen)

– Organic molecules e.g. proteins, carbohydrates,

lipids.
(Contains carbon atom attached with hydrogen)
Branches of biochemistry
APPLICATIONS OF BIOCHEMISTRY:
The findings of biochemistry are applied primarily in:

• In medicine, biochemists investigate the causes

and cures of diseases.

• In nutrition, they study how to maintain health and

study the effects of nutritional deficiencies.

• In agriculture, biochemists investigate soil and

fertilizers, and try to discover ways to improve crop
cultivation, crop storage and pest control.
FOUNDATIONS OF BIOCHEMISTRY:

• Cellular foundation

• Chemical foundation

• Physical foundation

• Genetic foundation

• Evolutionary foundation
• Cell:

– Smallest structural and functional unit of living

organisms

• Grow, reproduce, use energy, adapt, respond to their

environment.

• Many cells cannot be seen with the naked eye.

• A cell may be an entire organism or it may be one of

billions of cells that make up the organism.
 Cells May be Prokaryotic or
Eukaryotic

• Prokaryotes (single celled organisms) include bacteria &

lack a nucleus or membrane-bound structures called
organelles.

• Eukaryotes(multi-celled organisms) include most other

cells & have a nucleus and membrane-bound organelles
(plants, fungi, & animals)
CHEMICAL FOUNDATION
• About 30 out of 90 elements are essential for life

• Four most abundant elements in living organisms in terms of

percentage are H, O2, N, C.
– make 90% of most cells

• Other than carbon, elements H, O, N, P, S are also common

• Metal ions (e.g., K+, Na+, Ca++, Mg++, Zn++, Fe++) play
important roles in metabolism
 TRACE ELEMENTS:

A chemical element present only in minute

(lesser) amounts in a particular sample or
environment.
 TRACE ELEMENTS:
• Essential for life because every element plays
a vital role associated with it.

Example:
– O2 Transportation capacity of Hb is absolutely
dependent on four iron ions that make 0.3% of
its mass.
 VARIOUS WAYS OF REFERRING TO
MOLECULAR WEIGHT

• Molecular weight:
– Molecular weight is another term of Relative
Molecular Mass(Mr). It is defined as the ratio of the
mass of a molecule relative to one-twelfth(1/12) the
mass of an atom of the carbon isotope-12 (12C)

• Molecular mass:
– Molecular mass is also called molar mass because it
represents the mass (measure in grams) of 1 mole ,
or 6.022x1023 molecules.
– Denoted by m.
– Expressed in daltons (abbreviated da)
– 1 dalton= 1 atomic mass unit
 Contd…

• Atomic mass unit

– One atomic mass unit (1 u) is defined as one-twelfth the mass of
an atom of carbon-12
– Formerly amu, now commonly denoted u.

• Example:
– A molecule with a mass 1,000 times that of water. We can say of
this molecule either mr = 18,000 or m =18,000 daltons. We can
also describe it as an “18 kda molecule.” but describing the
molecular weight as 18000kda would be incorrect.
Biomolecules
ISOMERISM
 ISOMERISM
Isomerism are the
molecules with the
same composition
(i.e. same molecular
formula) but with
different physical and
chemical properties.

So the relationship
between such
molecules is called
isomer, and the
phenomenon is called Many things in nature try to look similar, but
isomerism. they are completely different !
 Structural Isomers

• Also called constitutional isomer.

• These are the isomers have different IUPAC name but

molecular formula is same.
 CHAIN ISOMERISM:

❑ These isomers arise because of the possibility of branching in carbon

chains.

Example:

There are two isomers of butane, C4H10

❑ In one of them, the carbon atoms lie in a "straight chain" whereas in the
other the chain is branched.

http://www.chemguide.co.uk/basicorg/isomerism/structural.html
 CHAIN ISOMERISM:
Example: Chain Isomers in Pentane
Pentane, C5H12, has three chain isomers.

http://www.chemguide.co.uk/basicorg/isomerism/structural.html
 POSITION ISOMERISM
❑ Basic carbon skeleton remains unchanged, but important groups are
moved around on that skeleton.

Example:
❑ There are two structural isomers with the molecular formula C3H7Br.
In one of them the bromine atom is on the end of the chain,
whereas in the other it is attached in the middle.
 POSITION ISOMERISM

Another similar example occurs in alcohols such as C4H9OH.

 FUNCTIONAL GROUP ISOMERISM

❑ These isomers contain different functional groups

❑ They belong to different families of compounds (different

homologous series)

Example:
A molecular formula C3H6O could be either propanol (an aldehyde)
or propanone (a ketone)
 STEREOISOMERS

– Stereoisomers are isomers that have same molecular

formula but differ in spatial arrangement of atoms (2
dimensional or 3 dimensional).

– Have same IUPAC name

 GEOMETRICAL ISOMERISM

❑ Geometric isomerism is also called configurational isomerism or CIS-

TRANS isomerism. These molecules are restricted in rotation due to the
presence of double bond between 2 carbon atoms.

CIS TRANS
Groups/atoms are on the Groups/atoms are on OPPOSITE
SAME SIDE of the double bond SIDES across the double bond
 GEOMETRICAL ISOMERISM

Single covalent bonds can easily rotate.

ALL THESE STRUCTURES ARE THE SAME BECAUSE C-C BONDS HAVE ‘FREE’ ROTATION
 OPTICAL ISOMERISM
❑ If the arrangement in space makes the two isomers
nonsuperimposable mirror images of each other, we call them
optical isomers or enantiomers.

An example is the amino acid alanine

 OPTICAL ISOMERISM

CHIRAL CENTRES

There are four different colours 2-chlorobutane exhibits optical isomerism

arranged tetrahedrally around because the second carbon atom has four
the carbon atom different atoms/groups attached
 PHYSICAL FOUNDATION

It deals with kinetic and potential energy,

system, universe and environment

Change of energy= Heat + work

 PHYSICAL FOUNDATION
• Living cells and organisms must perform work to stay
alive and to reproduce themselves.

• The synthetic reactions that occur within the cells, like

the synthetic processes in any factory , require the
input of energy.

• This energy, which may be extracted from the sun or

from food, allows an organism to do mechanical,
chemical, and electrical work to maintain its highly
organized structures.
 GENETIC FOUNDATION

• Study of the role of genetic factors

in determining health and disease
in families and in populations, and
the interplay of such genetic
factors with environmental factors.
 EVOLUTIONARY FOUNDATION

• It is the study of changes in genetic information.

 BIOCHEMICAL REACTIONS

❑ Chemical reactions associated with biological processes

❑ Often involve a combination of more than one type of

reaction

❑ Four main types of reactions:

❑ Neutralization

❑ Oxidation-Reduction

❑ Condensation

❑ Hydrolysis
Neutralization Reactions
Neutralization Reactions
 Oxidation-Reduction Reactions
❑ Involves the transfer of electrons
❑ Oxidation: loss of electrons
❑ Reduction: gain of electrons

❑ Electrons are highly reactive and don’t exist on their own

in cells
❑ If oxidation occurs to one molecule in the cell, reduction must
immediately to another molecule

❑ The entire reaction is often called a redox reaction

Oxidation-Reduction Reactions
Oxidation-Reduction Reaction
 CONDENSATION REACTIONS

❑ Involved in the assembly of all four types of

macromolecules

❑ An H atom is removed from a functional

group on one molecule, and an OH
group is removed from another molecule

❑ Result: a larger molecule + water (water

out, monomer in)

❑ Also known as dehydration synthesis

 HYDROLYSIS REACTIONS

❑ Involved in the breakdown of

macromolecules into their
monomers

❑ Water is added to break the bonds

between monomers (water in,
monomer out)

❑ H from the water is added to one

molecule, and the OH group is
added to the adjacent monomer

❑ Covalent bond between monomers

breaks to form two smaller
molecules
Thank you for Not Sleeping