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  1. Jul 2019
    1. How will this class, with its focus on biological organic chemistry, be different from a class in biochemistry? You should not make the mistake of thinking that a course built around biological examples is going to be more biochemistry than organic chemistry. Although there will inevitably be some overlap with the biochemistry course you may take later in your career (just as there is overlap between courses in general chemistry and organic chemistry, between physical chemistry and physics, etc.), this is very much an organic chemistry text – it follows essentially the same outline and covers essentially the same topics as most other organic chemistry texts, and is fundamentally distinct from most biochemistry texts. In organic chemistry, we think about individual chemical reactions at the atomic level – concentrating on the 'how and why' details of what is happening with the organic molecule(s) in question. In a biochemistry course, you will see many of the same compounds and reactions that you saw in this text. In biochemistry, however, you will see them mainly from the perspective of complete biochemical pathways: you will spend much of your time studying how these pathways are interconnected and regulated. Biochemistry, then, is a 'bigger picture' course where we study the forest, while in organic chemistry we study the trees.

      This is immensely helpful for self-learners. Thanks!