Chemistry: An Introduction for Medical and Health Sciences provides students and practitioners with a clear, readable introduction to the chemical terms and concepts that are relevant to their study and practice.

Preface ix Introduction 1 How to use the book 1 1 Starting Chemistry 3 1.1 Terminology and processes used in drug manufacture 4 1.2 Atoms and things 9 1.3 Chemical reactions and the periodic table 11 2 Covalent Compounds and Organic Molecules 15 2.1 How to make stable molecules 18 2.2 Covalent compounds 18 2.3 General Properties of Covalent Compounds 22 2.4 Characteristic shapes and bond angles within covalent molecules 23 2.5 Some covalent bonds with slight ionic character 24 2.6 Double-bonded carbon compounds or ‘unsaturated’ carbon bonds 25 2.7 Some further compounds of carbon 27 2.8 The carbon cycle 28 2.9 Isomerism: some different arrangements of atoms within a molecule 29 2.10 Naming organic compounds if you really want to know! 33 2.11 Ring structures 36 2.12 Compounds of carbon containing other groups 37 2.13 Some further examples with explanations 37 3 Organic Compounds Containing Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen: Alcohols and Ethers 43 3.1 Alcohols, Cn H2n +1OH 45 3.2 Properties of alcohols: monohydric alcohols with one OH group 46 3.3 Other alcohols: di- and tri-hydric alcohols 48 3.4 Aromatic OH compounds: phenol 49 3.5 Ethers are isomers of alcohols 50 4 Carbonyl compounds: compounds containing C=O Groups 55 4.1 Simple aldehydes and ketones: carboxylic acids and esters 56 4.2 Carbohydrates, monosaccharides and sugars 58 4.3 Disaccharides 60 4.4 Digestion of sugars 61 4.5 More about sugars – if you really need to know! 62 4.6 Carboxylic acids: another set of CHO compounds containing C=O groups 63 4.7 Salts and esters 63 4.8 Lipids or fats 65 4.9 Chemical energy in cells 67 4.10 Chemicals in food 68 4.11 Soaps and detergents 69 5 Organic Compounds Containing Nitrogen 73 5.1 Amines and amino acids 75 5.2 Amino acids 76 5.3 Peptide formation and protein synthesis 77 5.4 Hydrolysis (action of water) of peptides 78 5.5 Other properties of amino acids 79 5.6 Protein metabolism 79 5.7 Nucleic acids, DNA and RNA 80 6 Vitamins, Steroids, Hormones and Enzymes 85 6.1 Vitamins 86 6.2 Steroids and hormones 94 6.3 Enzymes 96 7 Ions, Electrolytes, Metals and Ionic Bonding 103 7.1 Introduction to ionic bonding 105 7.2 Some common properties of ions and ionic bonds 107 7.3 Electrolytes and ions of the body 109 7.4 Major cations (positive ions) in the body: sodium, potassium and calcium ions 110 7.5 Balance between fluids 113 7.6 Essential elements present in small quantities: micronutrients and minerals 114 7.7 Cancer treatments and chemotherapies that use metal compounds 115 8 Water 119 8.1 Introduction What makes water so unique? 121 8.2 Chemical reactions in aqueous solution 123 8.3 Dissolving and solubility: water is a great solvent 124 8.4 Osmosis 126 8.5 Dialysis 127 8.6 Colloids 128 8.7 Water, washing and detergents 129 8.8 Water vapour 130 8.9 Evaporation from skin 131 8.10 Solid water 132 8.11 Hydrolysis 133 9 Acids and Bases 135 9.1 Acids 137 9.2 Bases and alkali 140 9.3 Bases containing nitrogen 141 9.4 Amino acids and zwitterions 142 9.5 Salts 142 9.6 Neutralization 143 9.7 Buffer solutions 143 9.8 Buffers in the body 144 9.9 Digestion and acid attack 145 9.10 Acids in the environment 146 10 Oxidation and Reduction 149 10.1 Definitions of oxidation and reduction 150 10.2 Burning and oxidation 153 10.3 Some applications of redox reactions to metabolic processes 153 10.4 Nitric oxide, NO or N(II)O 154 10.5 Oxygen gas 156 11 Analytical Techniques 159 11.1 The need for analysis 160 11.2 Mass spectroscopy 162 11.3 Chromatography 165 11.4 Spectroscopy of various types 168 11.5 Electron microscopes and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) 170 11.6 Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) 173 11.7 General conclusions 174 12 Radioactivity 177 12.1 Introduction to the effects of radiation 178 12.2 Isotopes and radioactivity 179 12.3 Splitting the nuclei of atoms 181 12.4 Properties of alpha, beta and gamma radiation 182 12.5 Half-life 185 12.6 Radiation everywhere 186 12.7 Conclusion 188 13 Rates of Reaction 191 13.1 Effect of temperature on reactions and metabolism 193 13.2 Why does a chemical reaction slow down on cooling? 194 13.3 Free radicals 197 13.4 Effect of concentration on chemical reactions 197 13.5 Catalysts and enzymes 198 13.6 How catalysts and enzymes work 199 13.7 Application of chemical reactions to drug use 201 14 Overview of Chemicals Fighting Diseases 205 14.1 Drugs ancient and modern 205 14.2 Cancer treatments 210 14.3 Pain killers 213 14.4 Stopping attack by ‘aliens’ on our bodies: viruses and bacteria 214 14.5 AIDS and HIV 215 14.6 Gene therapy 217 14.7 Some changes of use of existing drugs 217 15 Numbers and Quantities 221 15.1 Standard notation, powers of 10 223 15.2 Moles 223 15.3 Powers of numbers and logs 224 15.4 Moles in formulae and equations 228 15.5 Moles in solution 229 15.6 Concentration in ppm, parts per million 230 15.7 Dilutions 230 15.8 Percentage by mass 231 Appendix 1: Alphabetical List of the Common Elements 235 Appendix 2: Periodic Classification of the Common Elements 237 Glossary 239 Bibliography 253 Index 257

Chemistry: An Introduction for Medical and Health Sciences provides students amd practitioners with a clear, readable introduction to the chemical terms and concepts that are relevant to their study and practice. Assuming little prior knowledge of the subject, the book describes and explains the chemistry underlying many of the most commonly prescribed drugs and medicines. It also includes information on chemical aspects of digestion and nutrition, oxidation, radioactivity and an overview of how chemicals fight disease. The book contains a number of tests and questions, numerous good clear diagrams and boxes containing historical or topical vignettes. Chemistry: An Introduction for Medical and Health Sciences will prove invaluable to students and practitioners in medicine, pharmacology, pharmacy and the biomedical and health sciences. A user-friendly introduction to chemistry within the context of current practice.Excellent pedagogy including learning objectives, diagnostic tests and questions in each chapter and a comprehensive glossary.Effective both as a conventional textbook and for self-study.

"an excellent book to refresh long forgotten chemistry related-facts... full of cartoons that will give you a chuckle." (Accident and Emergency Nursing Journal, July 2006) "... well written and organized book... " (Education in Chemistry, January 2007)