Module CHEM2051: BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY

Department: Chemistry

CHEM2051: BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY

Prerequisites

• Core Chemistry 1A (CHEM1012).

Corequisites

• (Chemistry of the Elements (CHEM2021) OR Ring Chemistry (CHEM2031) OR Properties of Molecules (CHEM2041) OR Inorganic Concepts and Application (CHEM3021) OR Advanced Organic Chemistry (CHEM3031) OR Molecules and their Interactions (CHEM3041)) OR (all biological sciences modules in the framework for level 2 of the programme leading to B.Sc. Molecular Biology and Biochemistry).

Excluded Combination of Modules

• This module may not be taken in the same year of study as Computational Chemistry (CHEM2061).

Aims

• To emphasise and expand undergraduates' application of chemical knowledge and analytical methods to biological systems.
• This will be achieved by both lecture based teaching and through project work that introduces computer-based searching of recent biochemical literature, particularly spectroscopic information.

Content

• Metals in biological systems: metalloproteins; ion channels and ion pumps, NMR studies.
• Amino acids and peptides: Structure and properties of natural amino-acids, resolution and racemisation.
• Sugars, nucleic acids and nucleosides: structure and reactions, synthesis, biological role, conformation and role of nucleic acids in the biosynthesis of proteins.
• Biological spectrometry: optical rotation; circular dichroism; mass spectrometry, magnetic resonance spectrometry.
• Information retrieval and use of online databases.

Learning Outcomes

• Explain the importance of metals in life processes.
• Identify biologically active substances from information about their composition and spectra.
• Design and plan methods for the synthesis of oligo-peptides, saccharides and nucleotides.
• Have a good understanding of the structure and reactivity of amino-acids, peptides, carbohydrates and nucleosides and their importance in biological chemistry.

• Use a range of spectroscopic techniques to investigate molecular structure.

• Group working, encouraged and developed through workshop teaching and the project.
• Written communication advanced through the use of essay type questions in lecture-support worksheets and the project.
• Problem-solving developed through workshops.
• Information retrieval through the project.
• IT skills, improved through database searching, introduced in the project.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Lectures are used to convey concepts and are examined by written papers. This is the best method to assess the knowledge of the students.
• Workshops are larger groups of students where problems are considered and common difficulties shared. This ensures that students have understood the work and can apply it to real life situations. These are formatively assessed.
• Following a demonstration lecture, and a computer workshop in the Epiphany Term, undergraduates work on gaining information about a particular protein by researching structural data obtained by X-ray diffraction, mass spectroscopy and NMR studies in the literature. This is followed by a project group discussion with undergraduates pooling results and then writing up their findings individually. The project is summatively assessed.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Set work in preparation for workshops.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University