Bioorganic chemistry is a
scientific discipline
The branches of science, also referred to as sciences, scientific fields or scientific disciplines, are commonly divided into three major groups:
* Formal sciences: the study of formal systems, such as those under the branches of logic and ma ...
that combines
organic chemistry
Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms.Clayden, J ...
and
biochemistry
Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...
. It is that branch of life science that deals with the study of biological processes using chemical methods. Protein and enzyme function are examples of these processes.
Sometimes biochemistry is used interchangeably for bioorganic chemistry; the distinction being that bioorganic chemistry is organic chemistry that is focused on the biological aspects. While biochemistry aims at understanding
biological process
Biological processes are those processes that are vital for an organism to live, and that shape its capacities for interacting with its environment. Biological processes are made of many chemical reactions or other events that are involved in the ...
es using chemistry, bioorganic chemistry attempts to expand organic-chemical researches (that is, structures, synthesis, and kinetics) toward
biology
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...
. When investigating
metalloenzymes and
cofactors
Cofactor may also refer to:
* Cofactor (biochemistry), a substance that needs to be present in addition to an enzyme for a certain reaction to be catalysed
* A domain parameter in elliptic curve cryptography, defined as the ratio between the order ...
, bioorganic chemistry overlaps
bioinorganic chemistry
Bioinorganic chemistry is a field that examines the role of metals in biology. Bioinorganic chemistry includes the study of both natural phenomena such as the behavior of metalloproteins as well as artificially introduced metals, including those t ...
.
Sub disciplines
Biophysical organic chemistry is a term used when attempting to describe intimate details of
molecular recognition
The term molecular recognition refers to the specific interaction between two or more molecules through noncovalent bonding such as hydrogen bonding, metal coordination, hydrophobic forces, van der Waals forces, π-π interactions, halogen ...
by bioorganic chemistry.
[Nelson J. Leonard]
Bioorganic chemistry-a scientific endeavour in continuous transition
Pure Appl. Chem., Vol. 66, No. 4, pp. 659-662.
Natural product chemistry is the process of Identifying compounds found in nature to determine their properties. Compound discoveries have and often lead to medicinal uses, development of herbicides and insecticides.
References
{{Authority control
Biochemistry