Interface Between Chemistry and Biochemistry

This text develops a series of examples expressing the developing interface between chemistry and biochemistry. Some analytical aspects are discussed first as although the fundamental concepts are not only chemical, chemistry has provided biochemistry with powerful tools of analysis. Physico-chemical aspects are devoted to spectrometric studies of nucleic acids as well as lipids, lipases and membrane proteins (receptors). Three chapters are included in the section dealing with enzymes. The section devoted to metalloproteins is mainly directed toward zinc metallochemistry and NMR structural work on zinc proteins. Chemists have been able to bring to biology their characteristic approach of synthesizing new molecules: three chapters are devoted to peptides, sugar compounds and biocatalysts; two chapters discuss new active compounds (antibacterial peptides, catalytic antibodies), which are the result of collaboration between chemists and biochemists.