Biochemistry

INTRODUCTION Biochemistry or biological chemistry studies the chemical composition and structure of substances contained in the living organisms, methods and means of regulating their metabolism, the processes of energy supply to cells and organisms. The development of biochemistry as a science began since the end of the XIX century. However, in ancient times, humanity empirically and without attaching special importance to the essence of the processes themselves, used various biochemical reactions when pickling and preserving vegetables, in cheese making, winemaking, brewing, in tea, tobacco, tanning and other industries, as well as in medical practice. During the Renaissance and until the second half of the XIX century, there was an accumulation of knowledge in chemistry on the general content, and in specifically a chemistry of the living matter. Ancient thinkers talked about the role that air and food play in the life support of the living beings, about that causes the fermentation process. However, basic biochemical knowledge was discovered in the writings of scientists of the ancient period. The first information about the composition of plants and animals appeared in the Middle Ages, when medicinal plants and animal organs became the objects of chemical analysis. The X century Persian scientist, philosopher and doctor Abu Ali ibn Sina (Avicenna) in his book "Canon of Medicine" described in detail many medicinal substances and for the first time suggested that infectious diseases are caused by microbes. In the XVII century, the Belgian-Dutch chemist and doctor Jan van Helmont offered the term enzyme to denote a chemical reagent involved in the digestion process. Advances in various sciences, including mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology, medicine, led to the development of biochemistry as an independent science. The basis of its formation was the discovery by the Great Russian scientist Mikhail Lomonosov (1755) of the law of conservation of mass and energy that was later confirmed by the French chemist Antoine Lavoisier (1786), who formulated the law of quantitative ratios in chemistry. Subsequently, on the basis of this law, the essence of respiration and the exclusive role of oxygen in this process were explained. The study of the life chemistry already in 1827 led to the formation of the concept of the separation of biological molecules into proteins, lipids and carbohydrates. The author of this classification was the English chemist and doctor William Prout. 3