ABSTRACT
Biochemistry is the science of chemical processes that occur in living organisms.1 There are two major reasons to introduce biochemistry at this point. The rst of these is that by its nature, biochemistry is a sustainable chemical and biological science. This is because over eons of evolution, organisms that carry out biochemical processes sustainably have evolved. Because the enzymes that carry out biochemical processes can function only under mild conditions, temperature in particular, biochemical processes take place under safe conditions, avoiding the high temperatures, high pressures, and corrosive and reactive chemicals that often characterize synthetic chemical operations. Therefore, it is appropriate to refer to green biochemistry, an important area of sustainable chemical science. Biochemical processes not only are profoundly inuenced by chemical species in the environment, but they also largely determine the nature of these species, their degradation, and even their syntheses, particularly in the aquatic and soil environments. The study of such phenomena forms the basis of environmental biochemistry. Biochemicals are molecules that are made by living organisms through biological processes. The major types of biochemicals are discussed in Sections 2.3-2.6 of this chapter.
