How closely related are organic chemistry and biochemistry?

[studentdoctor08]

Organic chem was really not my strong subject (I got Bs in both I and II) but I'm now taking biochemistry over the summer so I'll have more time to study for it. How closely related are the two subjects?

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[Lokhtar]

Depends on your prof. Biochem can be only peripherally related class where you're mostly memorizing pathways, or your professor can expect you to know many of the chemical reactions and apply knowledge from o-chem. In my experience, for most people, not all that much o-chem knowledge is necessary or helpful.

 

[Astarael]

I'd say they're like second cousins. Biochemistry as a science is definitely built on organic chemistry concepts, but the things that you'll have to know for the classes aren't really related that much.

 

[bucks2010]

Organic I can be very useful because you learned some basic reaction mechanisms (Sn1, 2, etc.) and you hopefully acquired a conceptual understanding of things like electronegativity, polarity, and acid-base reactions.

Concepts from my organic II class were found nowhere in biochem. All those syntheses yo learned like Diels-Alder, Suzuki, etc. are industrial reactions and I'm not aware of any biological process that utilizes them. This is probably why biochem is being required by more medical schools and organic II is slowly being removed as a pre-med pre-requisite. So basically you can forget about Organic II until it's MCAT time.

Biochem was a good class. How much detail you will go into will depend on the class. I took a 1 semester survey class, and while I had to memorize pathways (glycolysis, CAC, and various other synthesis/degradation pathways), I never had to know the actual reaction steps within the pathways, if that makes sense (that would be a buttload of info if you did actually have to know that). So organic will be useful for somewhat understanding how the pathways cycle, but you will probably not be required to, i.e., draw out the individual reaction steps for the CAC.

 

[TexasPhysician]

In my experience, they are unrelated.

 

[Isoprop]

remember how general chem is sorta related to organic chem? that's the same way organic chem is related to biochem. Biochem builds on some organic chem topics, but it's a completely different beast altogether.

 

[circulus vitios]

I hear chem major complaining all the time that biochemistry (at least at my school) is memorization with very little real chemistry. This thread just reinforces what I've heard and I think I'm going to take it even though I suck at organic chemistry. 👍

 

[orthomyxo]

I hear chem major complaining all the time that biochemistry (at least at my school) is memorization with very little real chemistry. This thread just reinforces what I've heard and I think I'm going to take it even though I suck at organic chemistry. 👍

Same here. Organic chemistry is just a bunch of bull to me.

 

[Barcu]

They were very closely related in my class.

We had to memorize a bunch of pathways, enzymes, etc but we also had to draw out a bunch of rxn mechanisms for them.

Basically, at least for me, it was closely related and a ton of OChem, but it was pretty easy OChem (as someone else said, OChem II was worthless).

 

[TTigers70]

Really depends on how your biochem class is structured. My biochem was very detail heavy and focused on intricacies more than overall ideas or clinical application. Thus, feel as though I learned way too much about G-Proteins,etc than I'll ever need. Some orgo played into things (much more in the first semester than when doing actual pathways). Orgo kind of played in talking about pKas and thermo/kinetics i.e. GTPgammaS slows down protein replication because blah blah you get the point. [Hint: anhydride bonds!]

 

[Isoprop]

There's about as much organic II in biochem as organic I. Some semester II topics: Amides and amines for proteins, carboxylic acids & derivatives for fatty acids, acetals/hemiacetals in sugars, etc etc.

Really it's just knowing the functional groups, a few properties, and maybe a few reactions.

 

[Jwalker]

.

 

[cwwm]

I think it's a safe bet that you'll find them to be completely different. Biochemistry is way more like a biology class than a chemistry class and also extremely important. I hear med school is tons easier if you have already taken biochem in undergrad

 

[capn jazz]

ochem I is essential for biochem, but only the basics.
ochem II is useless for biochem.

i took biochem and ochem II at the same time and i found ochem II to be about synthetic ways to make reactions like those in biochem occur. biochem is understanding how/why those rxns occur in the body. so i kinda favored biochem over ochem II, which made my ochem grade go down... oops.

also, if anyone tells you biochem is 100% memorization, they're lying. if you understand why every step of a reaction happens, it's a lot easier to remember it for a test. if you just try to cram stuff without comprehension, then yes, biochem sucks. but i thought biochem was awesome.

 

[iqe2010]

At my school Orgo I is a pre-req to General Biochemistry, so they have to be related some kind of way right? But then again pre-cal is a pre-req for general chem so..

 

[TTigers70]

There's about as much organic II in biochem as organic I. Some semester II topics: Amides and amines for proteins, carboxylic acids & derivatives for fatty acids, acetals/hemiacetals in sugars, etc etc.

Really it's just knowing the functional groups, a few properties, and maybe a few reactions.

Curse you fatty acids and sugars!! I'm generally really engaged in my coursework but gee 😴

I really hope that taking grad level biochem as an elective pays off down the road. Equally hope that biochem in med school is more based on substance than just "well today I think we should look at blahhhhh...". I remember a thread a while back with MS's weighing in on their biochem classes vs. undergrad and it was encouraging.

 

[orthomyxo]

There's about as much organic II in biochem as organic I. Some semester II topics: Amides and amines for proteins, carboxylic acids & derivatives for fatty acids, acetals/hemiacetals in sugars, etc etc.

Really it's just knowing the functional groups, a few properties, and maybe a few reactions.

How much do you learn about sugars in biochem? That was the only organic II topic that I actually enjoyed.

 

[Espadaleader]

Anyone that says biochem and orgo is unrelated is a crazy. If you went through orgo II and did not cover saponification, acetal/ketal etc. come on. Though, my prof covered lipids, carbohydrates, amides, and amines. Thats normal right?

 

[Tone]

While they may seem unrelated during the courses we take in college, i'm pretty sure biochemistry is a branch of organic chemistry...

 

[JJMrK]

The studying you'll do is probably going to be totally different. Ochem is all about doing problems. Almost like solving logic puzzles. Biochem will be mostly straight memorization.

 

[NickNaylor]

My experience with biochemistry involved some very basic ochem when memorizing reaction mechanisms, but beyond that the two aren't related.

 

[ridethecliche]

Depends on how it's taught and how you learn.

You can memorize reactions or you can actually understand why they're happening.

Biochem involves a lot of gen chem stuff too (acid/bases/pka) and couples it to orgo.

 

[Isoprop]

How much do you learn about sugars in biochem? That was the only organic II topic that I actually enjoyed.

quite a bit. ever heard of glycolysis? 😀

but seriously, sugars come up quite a lot. it won't be the same as when you studied carbohydrates in ochem because you'll be learning about sugars in the context of metabolic pathways, but it's there.