COURSE: 03-405 Biochemistry I (3)
The focus of this course is on major classes of molecules found in the living cells: water, proteins, carbohydrates, lipids and nucleic acids. The course explores concepts of organic and physical chemistry as they apply to biological molecules. The organic functional groups that define the structures and determine the chemical and physical properties of the biomolecules and their building blocks are described. The concept of "structure determining the function" of biomolecules is explored. Emphasis is on the concepts of thermodynamics: entropy, enthalpy and the free energy as they apply to protein folding, ligand binding, the mechanism of enzyme catalysis and enzyme kinetics. Prerequisite: 03-225.