Biochemistry For Dummies

It’s alive! It’s alive! (Thanks to biochemistry, that is.) 

Biochemistry is the science of the chemical processes that allow for…well…life. If it moves, breathes, eats, or sleeps, biochemistry can probably explain how. So, it stands to reason that the fundamentals of biochemistry can get a little complicated. 

In Biochemistry For Dummies, you’ll explore the carbons, proteins, and cellular systems that make up the biochemical processes that create and sustain life of all kinds. Perfect for students majoring in biology, chemistry, pre-med, health-services, and other science-related fields, this book tracks a typical college-level biochemistry class. It simplifies and clarifies the subject with easy-to-follow diagrams and real-world examples. You’ll also get: 

• Explorations of cell biology, carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and other fundamental building blocks of life 
• Discussions of the basic structures common to all living organisms 
• Treatments of the microscopic details of life that make us all tick 

If you’re looking for a hand with some of the trickier parts of biochemistry—or you just need an accessible overview of the subject—check out Biochemistry For Dummies today!  

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 3

Beyond the Book 3

Where to Go from Here 4

Part 1: Setting the Stage: Basic Biochemistry Concepts 5

Chapter 1: Biochemistry: What You Need to Know and Why 7

Why Biochemistry? 7

What Is Biochemistry and Where Does It Take Place? 8

Types of Living Cells 8

Prokaryotes 9

Eukaryotes 9

Animal Cells and How They Work 10

A Brief Look at Plant Cells 12

Chapter 2: Seems So Basic: Water Chemistry and pH 15

The Fundamentals of H2O 16

Let’s get wet! The physical properties of water 16

Water’s most important biochemical role: The solvent 18

Hydrogen Ion Concentration: Acids and Bases 20

Achieving equilibrium 20

Understanding the pH scale 21

Calculating pOH 23

Applying the Brønsted-Lowry theory 23

Buffers and pH Control 27

Identifying common physiological buffers 27

Calculating a buffer’s pH 28

Chapter 3: Fun with Carbon: Organic Chemistry 31

The Role of Carbon in the Study of Life 31

It’s All in the Numbers: Carbon Bonds 33

When Forces Attract: Bond Strengths 33

Everybody has ‘em: Intermolecular forces 34

Water-related interactions: Both the lovers and the haters 35

How bond strengths affect physical properties of substances 35

Getting a Reaction out of a Molecule: Functional Groups 37

Hydrocarbons 37

Functional groups with oxygen and sulfur 37

Functional groups containing nitrogen 38

Functional groups containing phosphorus 39

Reactions of functional groups 40

pH and functional groups 43

Same Content, Different Structure: Isomerism 44

Cis-trans isomers 44

Chiral carbons 44

Part 2: The Meat of Biochemistry: Proteins 47

Chapter 4: Amino Acids: The Building Blocks of Protein 49

General Properties of Amino Acids 50

Amino acids are positive and negative: The zwitterion formation 50

Protonated? pH and the isoelectric point 51

Asymmetry: Chiral amino acids 52

The Magic 20 Amino Acids 53

Nonpolar (hydrophobic) and uncharged amino acids 53

Polar (hydrophilic) and uncharged amino acids 55

Acidic amino acids 57

Basic amino acids 57

Lest We Forget: Rarer Amino Acids 58

Rudiments of Amino Acid Interactions 59

Intermolecular forces: How