Organic Chemistry: Studer and Toste awarded / Biological Chemistry: Prizes for J. K. Barton

2007 ◽  
Vol 46 (6) ◽  
pp. 822-822
Keyword(s):  
Organic Chemistry ◽  
Biological Chemistry

Some comments on the development of free radical chemistry

1984 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-124 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Chemistry ◽  
Free Radicals ◽  
Free Radical ◽  
Early Development ◽  
Room Temperature ◽  
Single Atom ◽  
Biological Chemistry ◽  
Personal Recollection ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Free Radical Chemistry

For many years, an introduction to the chemistry of free radicals has formed an essential part of University chemistry curricula and the subject is of wide relevance to both industrial and biological chemistry, yet its development occurred, with surprising rapidity, less than fifty years ago. It is the aim of this article to give a personal recollection of the circumstances which led to the recognition and early development of this branch of chemistry. From the early days of the last century ‘radicals’ had been defined by chemists as ‘groups of atoms which together behave as a single atom’ and organic chemistry had been regarded as the chemistry of ‘compound radicals’. But with the proof that such simple elements as hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen exist as binary molecules (H 2 , O 2 , N 2 ) and not as atoms, the possible existence at room temperature, in gases or solutions, of free atoms or radicals was deemed to be unlikely by most chemists of a century ago.

scholarly journals From the beginnings: How biochemistry has evolved as a discipline

2007 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 6-10
Author(s):  
Michel Morange
Keyword(s):  
Organic Chemistry ◽  
Metabolic Pathways ◽  
Birth Date ◽  
Biological Chemistry ◽  
Death Knell ◽  
The Way

Biochemists see in the cell-free fermentation experiments of Eduard Buchner in 18971, the birth date of their discipline (also named biological chemistry), before the introduction of the word in the titles of journals and the names of learned societies2. These experiments tolled the death knell of the vitalistic claims that chemistry in organisms was different from organic chemistry in the laboratory. They opened the way to the elucidation of the central metabolic pathways.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document