Course Introduction
The course
concerns BioInorganic Chemistry; that is the
biological chemistry of metals. One
could express the content in terms the metabolism of metals in living
organisms. Including: the role of metals
in living organisms; the chemistry of the essential minerals; the toxicity of
metals; and the role metals play as therapeutic agents? Of all these
descriptions, the best may be simply, the “Inorganic Chemistry of
Biology”. So we use the title “Metals
in Life”.
Who will benefit from this course? Anybody who would like to learn the details behind the
physiological chemistry of the essential and toxic metals. For example, how does the iron we eat aid
oxygen storage? What else does iron
do? Why do we eat vitamin B12? How do plants use magnesium? Why are lead, arsenic and mercury so
toxic? How can we use platinum, gold and
silver as therapeutic agents? Are they
as effective as typical, organic drugs. Useful if you are in upper level biological
courses or programmes to put into context why metals
are essential, why some are toxic, why others assist in medical
applications. The Poster presentation is
an excellent introduction to presentations used throughout science.
CHEMISTRY 2211a BRIEF COURSE OUTLINE (approximate
lecture order) – see the full course
outline that is in lecture order on this web site
1)
Overview of metals in
biological systems
2)
Important inorganic chemistry
3)
Important biological chemistry
4)
Important analytical and
spectroscopic methods
5)
Bioavailability of metals
6)
Biologically important ligands
7)
Mg: The key to plant life
8)
Vitamin B12
9)
Where is zinc?
10)
Toxic metals, Hg, As, Cd and Pb
2211Intro.htm
Last
revised: 2016Sep9-r16-a