A History of Biochemistry

Before the nineteenth century, chemists believed the world to be made of either “living
matter” or “non-living matter”. They thought that the processes of life were unlike the
processes of nature. They assumed life could not be explained by the laws of physics and
chemistry alone. They argued that the molecules of life could only be made by the living
organisms themselves. It was not until 1828, when the German chemist Friedrich Wohler
created an organic compound from inorganic matter, that the field of biochemistry began
to develop. It became a new branch of science dealing with the chemistry of living
systems. Since Wohler’s discovery, chemists have made significant advances in
understanding the chemical structure and functioning of biological molecules.
Friedrich Wohler was twenty-eight-year-old chemist and medical scholar. He accidentally

produced the organic compound urea while experimenting with certain inorganic
compounds. Urea is found in the urine of most animals. His finding demonstrated that a
compound thought to be created only by animate beings could be artificially synthesized
in a laboratory. They thus disproved the theory that an undefined “life force” was needed
for the production of organic matter. Five years after the publication of Wohler’s results,
the French chemist Anselme Payen discovered the first known enzyme. Enzymes are
proteins that speed up or slow down chemical reactions in the body. Payen’s enzyme was
called diastase. Diastase is a type of enzyme responsible for the breakdown of starches
into maltose. Starches are complex carbohydrates found commonly in potatoes and rice.
Maltose is a sugar. Payen found diastase in a malt solution. He created the solution using
grain sugar. In 1897, Edward and Hans Buchner of Germany furthered the understanding
of enzyme function. Their experiments used extracted enzyme-containing material from
yeast cells. The brothers demonstrated that the inanimate material could ferment sugar.
They showed that “dead” cellular compounds can perform the chemical reactions of
living cells.
By the turn of the century, chemists such as Emil Fischer had contributed effective
methods of separating and identifying basic biological molecules. These molecules
included various proteins. Carbohydrates, and enzymes. The actual field of biochemistry
was not recognized, however, until the early 1900s when Carl Neuber formally coined the
term. Studies in biochemistry continued into the twentieth century. The goal was to
provide chemical explanations for how cells carry out certain metabolic processes. It was
discovered, for example, that the presence of specific sets of enzymes within a cell will
facilitate specific chain reactions. It was also discovered that carbohydrates share similar
molecular structures and that proteins are synthesiezed by the bonding of simpler
molecules called amino acids.
The next major breakthrough in biochemistry did not occur until 1943. That year, an
American physician and medical researcher, Oswald Avery, found the culprit of hereditary
traits. Deoxyribonucleic acid, more commonly known as DNA, was first isolated by Swiss
biologist Friedrich Miesher during the latter decades of the nineteenth century. By the
twentieth century, the structural form of DNA was already being studied. Avery’s famous
1940s experiment transferred traits of one type of bacteria onto another type. He did this
by mixing dead cells of the first type with live cells of the second. His experiment
provided the first confirmation of the link between DNA and inherited characteristics. A
decade later, scientists James D> Watson and Francis Crick gave the first accurate
account of DNA structure. Then, in 1957, they presented the process of genetic encoding
in DNA<. Their work demonstrated that the specific information carried in DNA was
responsible for the synthesis of specific proteins. These proteins then carried out specific
cellular functions to complete the encoding process.
Biochemistry continued to advance with the development of new technologies and

techniques. These included chromatography, which is used in the separation of mixtures,
and x-ray crystallography, used in the analysis of molecular structure. Although these
innovations havel ed to the discovery and detailed understanding of many molecular
structures and metabolic processes of living cells, biochemistry remains a vast subject of
study that seeks to explain how chemical elements are incorporated into highly complex
organic molecules. This field is still expanding. Reaserchers continue to uncover the
specific functions of these elements in living systems. The research supports the theory
that life arises from chemical and physical processes.

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Before the nineteenth century, chemists believed the world to be made of either “living

Friedrich Wohler was twenty-eight-year-old chemist and medical scholar. He accidentally

Biochemistry continued to advance with the development of new technologies and

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