Chemistry and Introductory Biochemistry

The course aims to provide students with the basics of chemistry that make it possible to understand the behavior of the compounds involved in the main biological processes and the knowledge necessary to understand the quantitative aspects involved, with particular reference to some topics preparatory to next courses, such as the structures and chemical properties of carbohydrates, lipids, amino acids, proteins, nucleotides and nucleic acids.

At the end of the course, the student will learn:
- - to describe and use in simple calculations the basic quantities and their units of measure used in chemistry (atomic and molecular mass, mole and molar mass).
- - to recognize the various types of chemical reactions and balance their stoichiometric coefficients in a rational way.
- - to list the various ways in which the concentration of a solution can be expressed, define the solubility and the factors that influence it.
- - to understand the concept of balance of a reaction and indicate how determined parameters can modify it.
- - to discuss the concept of acids and bases according to the Broensted-Lowry theory.
- - to describe the concept of pH of an aqueous solution and to calculate it in the case of both strong and weak acids and bases.
- - to describe the composition and properties of a buffer solution.
- - to know and discuss some basic concepts of electrochemistry, thermodynamics and chemical kinetics.
- - to recognize the different functional groups that characterize organic compounds, with particular reference to those present in the structures of compounds of biological interest, such as amino acids, proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleotides and nucleic acids.