Description

Preface

Welcome to the 12th edition of Introduction to General, Organic, and
Biochemistry. We wish to sincerely thank our colleagues who not
only adopted the previous editions for their courses but also offered
sage advice on suggested changes and updates to this edition.
With all the continuous advances in the field, this edition emphasizes the

inclusion of new relevant concepts and examples in this fast-growing disci-
pline, especially in the biochemistry chapters. Based on valuable feedback

from reviewers, we also strive to consolidate content in a more meaningful
and manageable manner while preserving an integrated view of chemistry.
This new edition continues with the tradition of providing a solid foundation
on which instructors can build upon, and chapter resources are conceived
and written with flexibility in mind, affording instructors the opportunity
to seamlessly select applicable topics for discussion with their students. The
wealth of problems, both practical and challenging, provide students with
numerous ways to test their knowledge from a variety of viewpoints.
From the very beginning of the book, we include organic compounds and
biochemical substances to illustrate relevant and overlapping principles.
This progression ascends from the simple to the complex. We encourage our
colleagues to advance to the chapters of biochemistry as quickly as possible,

because there lies most of the material that is relevant to the future profes-
sions of our students.

Audience and Unified Approach
This book is intended for non-chemistry majors, mainly those entering
health sciences and related fields, such as nursing, medical technology,
physical therapy, and nutrition. In its entirety, it can be used for a one-year
(two-semester or three-quarter) course in chemistry, or
parts of the book can be used in a one-term chemistry
course.
We assume that the students using this book have

little or no background in chemistry. Therefore, we in-
troduce the basic concepts slowly at the beginning and

increase the tempo and the level of sophistication as we

go on. We progress from the basic tenets of general chem-
istry to organic and then to biochemistry. Throughout, we

integrate the parts by keeping a unified view of chemis-
try. For example, we frequently use organic and biological

substances to illustrate general principles.
While teaching the chemistry of the human body is
our ultimate goal, we try to show that each subsection
of chemistry is important in its own right, besides being
necessary for understanding future topics.