Name: Deane Marc A.

Torio Date: February 16, 2023

Subject: Biochemistry

History and Development of Chemistry

The history of chemistry is an interesting and challenging one. Very early chemists were often
motivated mainly by the achievement of a specific goal or product. Making perfume and soaps
did not require much theory, just a good recipe and careful attention to detail. There was no
standard way of naming materials (and no periodic table that everyone could agree
on). However, the science developed over the centuries.
Major progress was made in putting chemistry on a solid foundation when Robert Boyle (1637-
1691) began his research in chemistry. He developed the basic ideas for the behavior of gases;
gases could thereafter be described mathematically. Boyle also helped pioneer the idea that small
particles could combine to form molecules. Many years later, John Dalton used these ideas to
develop the atomic theory.
The field of chemistry began to develop rapidly in the 1700s. Joseph Priestley (1733-1804)
isolated and characterized several gases: oxygen, carbon monoxide, and nitrous oxide. It was
later discovered that nitrous oxide ("laughing gas") worked as an anesthetic. This gas was used
for that purpose for the first time in 1844 during a tooth extraction. Other gases discovered
during that time were chlorine, by C.W. Scheele (1742-1786) and nitrogen, by Antoine Lavoisier
(1743-1794). Lavoisier has been considered by many scholars to be the "father of chemistry".
Chemists continued to discover new compounds in the 1800s. The science also began to develop
a more theoretical foundation. John Dalton (1766-1844) put forth his atomic theory in 1807. This
idea allowed scientists to think about chemistry in a much more systematic way. Amadeo
Avogadro (1776-1856) laid the groundwork for a more quantitative approach to chemistry by
calculating the number of particles in a given amount of a gas. A lot of effort was put forth in
studying chemical reactions. These efforts led to new materials being produced. Following the
invention of the battery by Alessandro Volta (1745-1827), the field of electrochemistry (both
theory and application) developed through major contributions by Humphry Davy (1778-1829)
and Michael Faraday (1791-1867). Other areas of the discipline also progressed rapidly.
It would take a large book to cover developments in chemistry during the twentieth century and
up to today. One major area of expansion was in the area of the chemistry of living processes.
Research in photosynthesis in plants, the discovery and characterization of enzymes as
biochemical catalysts, elucidation of the structures of biomolecules such as insulin and DNA —
these efforts gave rise to an explosion of information in the field of biochemistry.
The practical aspects of chemistry were not ignored. The work of Volta, Davy, and Faraday
eventually led to the development of batteries that provided a source of electricity to power a
number of devices.
Name: Deane Marc A. Torio Date: February 16, 2023
Subject: Biochemistry

Figure 1.2.21.2.2: Battery developed by Volta. (Credit: Adolphe Ganot;

Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Voltaic_pile_battery.png(opens in new
window))
Charles Goodyear (1800-1860) discovered the process of vulcanization, allowing a stable rubber
product to be produced for the tires of all the vehicles that we have today. Louis Pasteur (1822-
1895) pioneered the use of heat sterilization to eliminate unwanted microorganisms in wine and
milk. Alfred Nobel (1833-1896) invented dynamite. After his death, the fortune he made from
this product was used to fund the Nobel Prizes in science and the humanities. J.W. Hyatt (1837-
1920) developed the first plastic. Leo Baekeland (1863-1944) developed the first synthetic resin,
which is widely used for inexpensive and sturdy dinnerware.
Biochemistry is the study of the chemical composition of the living matter and the biochemical
processes that govern life activities throughout growth and maintenance. It comes from the
words “bio” meaning “life” and chemistry, thus the “chemistry of life”. Unlike other fields, it
focuses on the processes that occur at molecular level by studying how the structure of a
molecule relates to its function. As a result, it allows the prediction on how molecules will act.
Here is the history of biochemistry in a chronological order from its inception until the present
day.
Biochemistry is important in the development of a wide range of scientific disciplines which
include microbiology, cell and molecular biology, botany, genetics, forensics, and medicine. The
emergence of Biochemistry as a discipline is arguable and still remains unclear, even at present.
However, most scientists believe that it started out from the ancient Greek who dwelled on the
structure, composition, and different processes that occur within living organisms.

DURING THE 17TH CENTURY

 1665    Robert Hooke had successfully invented the

microscope. Because of this discovery, Robert Hooke
was the first one to have a close look of a cell appears
Name: Deane Marc A. Torio Date: February 16, 2023
Subject: Biochemistry

to be. His description of these cells was published in Micrographia.

However, the cell walls observed by Hooke gave no indication of the
nucleus and other organelles found in most living cells.

 1674    Anton van Leeuwenhoek witnessed a live cell (plant) under a

microscope.

DURING THE 18TH CENTURY

 1775    Antoine Lavoisier first proposed a mechanism for

photosynthesis, a process wherein plants plants take in carbon dioxide
and release oxygen. Lavoisier was also the first to investigate cell
respiration in animals.

 1777-83    Chemistry became dominated by the phlogiston theory, or

the hypothetical principle of fire wherein all the combustible material
was part composed. In this principle, burning (oxidation) was caused
by liberating phlogiston, with ash as the dephlogistigated substance.
 Both in theory and techniques, chemistry was wholly inadequate to
unravel the mysteries of the important functions in living systems.
 This period marked the onset of physiological chemistry, a sub-field of
chemistry that dealt more with extra cellular chemistry, such as the
chemistry of digestion and of body fluids[1].

DURING THE 19TH CENTURY

  1836    The proponent of the cell theory in Biology, Theodore

Schwann, proposed that the process of fermentation is solely limited
to living yeast cells in 1836. Liebig did not agree to this and instead, he
proposed another alternative theory of fermentation.
Name: Deane Marc A. Torio Date: February 16, 2023
Subject: Biochemistry

 1856    Louis Pasteur opposed Liebig’s chemical theory. In his

experiment, he showed that fermentation depends highly on the
physiological functions that occur in bacteria and in living yeast cells.
This work of Pasteur in 1856 received general recognition [4].

 1860s   The view on the chemistry of life highly different from the
chemistry of nonliving things. During this period, the view is that the
gelatinous and homogenous form of matter in organisms or more
commonly known as the protoplasm carries out all the intracellular
processes. These include respiration, biosynthesis of molecules, and the
breakdown of matter [5].

 1869    Friedrich Miescher first identified what he called “nuclein”

inside the nuclei of human white blood cells[4].

TWENTIETH CENTURY UP TO THE PRESENT

o 1900s   One of the most important events that happened during

this period is the experiment done by Eduard Buchner. He
prepared a cell-free extract of yeast which he called the zymase.
It fermented glucose and produced carbon dioxide and ethanol.
In this way, Buchner then had introduced the concept of an
Name: Deane Marc A. Torio Date: February 16, 2023
Subject: Biochemistry

“enzyme”. This discovery of Buchner had debunked the previous

theory of protoplasm [5].Furthermore, the distinction
between catalysis by hydrolytic extracellular enzymes and by
intracellular enzymes disappeared.
1904    The term “Biochemistry” was officially coined by the German chemist Carl Neuber.

 1919    Phoebus Levene, a Russian physician and chemist, first

discovered the order of the three major components of a single
nucleotide (phosphate, pentose sugar, and nitrogenous base). He was
also the first to discover the carbohydrate component of RNA (ribose),
and carbohydrate component of DNA (deoxyribose). Years later,
Levene finally identified how DNA and RNA molecules are put
together [4]

 1937   Hans Krebs discovered the process of the Citric Acid Cycle
(also known as Krebs cycle, in honor to him), which a series of
chemical reactions that occur during cell respiration. Here, glucose and
oxygen get converted to water, carbon dioxide, and energy. The
advancement in the field of molecular biology, a field of biology that
focuses on the physiological organization of living organisms in
molecular level, is indeed a great help in the progress of biochemistry.
Somehow, it is quite difficult to distinguish between molecular biology
and biochemistry since both of them are concerned with the
intermolecular and intercellular transformations[3]. It was then theorized
that proteins were composed of linear chains of amino acids. This,
however, happened even prior to the identification of the amino acid
constituents of amino acids.

 1944    While working on bacterial samples, Oswald Avery first

suggested in 1944 that the genetic material of the cell was possibly the
deoxyribonucleic acid.

 1950    A scientist named Erwin Chargaff began to challenge Levene’s

previous conclusions. He noted that the nucleotide composition of
Name: Deane Marc A. Torio Date: February 16, 2023
Subject: Biochemistry

DNA differs among species and do not repeat in the same order
reached two major conclusions [6]. Chargaff concluded that almost all
DNA, no matter what organism or tissue type it comes from, still
maintains certain properties, even as its composition varies. He
postulated the “Chargaff’s Rule” which says that the amount of
cytosine is equal to the amount of guanine, and the amount of thymine
is equal to the amount of adenine. In short, the total amount of
pyrimidines (thymine and cytosine) approximates the number of
purines (adenine and guanine). Utilizing all discoveries prior to James
Watson and Francis Crick was able to derive the three-dimensional and
double-helical model of the DNA in 1953[6].  After that, the process of
replicating the DNA was suggested.

 1958    The theory was only confirmed after Frederick Sanger

discovered the first and complete protein structure in 1958. The protein
that was first identified is insulin.

 1961    After the discovery of the genetic material, the next achieved

milestone was the cracking of the genetic code. It was discovered in
1961 that the genetic code is made up of specific triplets of DNA bases
that encodes for particular amino acids.

 1977    Sixteen years after the discovery of the triplets of the DNA,
Fred Sanger had successfully sequenced the genome of a bacteriophage
which contained more than 5000 nucleotides. Not long after, he was
able to sequence the DNA of the human mitochondrial genome which
consisted of more than 16 000 nucleotides [4]In the present time,
Biochemistry has promises to the world of science in development of
new path-breaking research and coming times would surely prove these
promises to be fulfilled.The development of new technology such as X-
ray diffraction, chromatography, radioisotopic labelling, electron
microscopy and molecular dynamics  had paved the way for many
other discoveries in the field of Biochemistry. Such technologies will
also further open other new endeavors in the future.
Name: Deane Marc A. Torio Date: February 16, 2023
Subject: Biochemistry