The development of biotechnology has gone through two stages of traditional biotechnology and modern biotechnology development, and at present we often talk about refers to modern biotechnology. It includes genetic engineering, cell engineering, enzyme engineering, fermentation engineering, of which genetic engineering is the core technology. As biotechnology will open up broad prospects for solving the major problems faced by mankind, such as food, health, environment, energy, etc., it is classified as high-tech with computer microelectronics, new materials, new energy, aerospace technology, etc., which is regarded as the core of science and technology in the 21st century. At present, the most active application field of biotechnology is the biopharmaceutical industry, and biopharmaceuticals (often referred to as recombinant drugs) are regarded by investors as one of the industries with the highest growth rate. The world's major pharmaceutical companies aiming at the target, have invested huge sums of money, the development of biopharmaceuticals, launched for the 21st century unprecedented fierce competition.
Organic Chemistry
There is no absolute division between organic and inorganic compounds. Organic chemistry is a separate discipline in chemistry because organic compounds do have their intrinsic connections and properties.
The element carbon, which is located in the middle of the periodic table, generally achieves a stable electronic configuration by using the outer electrons with atoms of other elements***. This *** valence bonding determines the properties of organic compounds. Most organic compounds are composed of several elements, including carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen, and a few contain halogens, sulfur, phosphorus, and other elements. As a result, most organic compounds have a low melting point, can be burned, soluble in organic solvents and other properties, which are very different from the nature of inorganic compounds.
In organic compounds containing more than one carbon atom in the molecule, carbon atoms combined with each other to form the skeleton of the molecule, other elements of the atoms are connected to the skeleton. No other element in the periodic table is bonded to each other as strongly and in as many ways as carbon. The molecular skeleton formed by carbon atoms takes many forms, including straight chains, branched chains, and rings.
In the early stages of the development of organic chemistry, the main raw materials for the organic chemical industry were animal and plant bodies, and organic chemistry was mainly concerned with the separation of organic compounds from animal and plant bodies.
In the mid-19th to early 20th centuries, the organic chemical industry gradually changed to coal tar as the main raw material. The discovery of synthetic dyes, dyes, pharmaceutical industry flourished, promoting the study of aromatic compounds and heterocyclic compounds. 30 years later, the rise of organic synthesis of acetylene as a raw material. 40 years ago, the raw material of the organic chemical industry and gradually transformed to oil and natural gas, the development of synthetic rubber, synthetic plastics and synthetic fiber industry. As petroleum resources will be increasingly depleted, coal as raw material for the organic chemical industry is bound to re-development. Of course, natural animals, plants and microorganisms are still important research objects.
Natural organic chemistry mainly studies the composition, synthesis, structure and properties of natural organic compounds. the early 20th century to the 30's, has determined the monosaccharides, amino acids, nucleotides taurocholic acid, cholesterol and some terpenes, peptides and proteins of the structure; 30 ~ 40's, to determine some of the vitamins, steroidal hormones, polysaccharides of the structure, to complete the study of the structure and synthesis of some steroid hormones and vitamins; 40's, to determine some vitamins, steroid hormones, polysaccharides and vitamins. structure and synthesis of some steroid hormones and vitamins; around the 40s and 50s, some antibiotics such as penicillin were discovered, and the structure determination and synthesis were completed; in the 50s, the total synthesis of some steroid compounds and alkaloids such as morphine and the synthesis of biologically active small peptides such as oxytocin were completed, the chemical structure of insulin was determined, and the helical structure of proteins and the double-helix structure of DNA were found; and the total synthesis of insulin and oligonucleotides were completed in the 60s. synthesis and oligonucleotide synthesis; in the 70s to the early 80s, the total synthesis of prostaglandins, vitamin B12, insect pheromone hormones, determine the structure of nucleic acids and medenmuin and complete their total synthesis and so on.
Organic synthesis of organic compounds from the simpler compounds or elements by chemical reaction synthesis of organic compounds. 1830s synthesized urea; 40s synthesized acetic acid. Then successively synthesized gluconic acid, citric acid, succinic acid, malic acid and a series of organic acids; the second half of the 19th century synthesized a variety of dyes; in the 1940s synthesized DDT and organophosphorus insecticides, organosulfur fungicides, herbicides and other pesticides; in the early 1900s, synthesized 606 agents, 30-40 years, synthesized more than 1,000 kinds of sulfonamides, some of which can be used as drugs.
Physical organic chemistry is the quantitative study of the structure, reactivity and reaction mechanism of organic compounds. It was developed on the basis of the electronic theory of valence bonding, citing new advances in modern physics, physical chemistry, and the theory of quantum mechanics.In the 1920s and 1930s, a new system of organic chemistry was established through the study of reaction mechanisms; in the 1950s conformational analysis and the Hammett equation began to semi-quantitatively estimate the relationship between reactivity and structure; and in the 1960s the principle of molecular orbital symmetry conservation and the Frontier orbital theory.
Organic analysis, i.e., the qualitative and quantitative analysis of organic compounds, was established in the 1830s for the quantitative analysis of carbon and hydrogen; in the 1990s for the quantitative analysis of nitrogen; in the late 1800s, the method of constant analysis of the elements in organic compounds was basically complete; in the 1920s, the method of quantitative analysis of organic micro-analysis was established; and in the 1970s, the emergence of automated analytical instruments.
As a result of the development of science and technology, organic chemistry and various disciplines interpenetrate each other, the formation of many branches of fringe subjects. For example, biological organic chemistry, physical organic chemistry, quantum organic chemistry, marine organic chemistry.