"Food is the most important thing for the people", and the food we eat cannot be separated from chemical products such as fertilizers and pesticides. The synthetic ammonia technology invented by Hubble in 1909 doubled the world grain. Without this chemical technology invented by Hubble, half of the people in the world would not have enough to eat and wear, and half of them would be in danger. Processing and manufacturing food with good color, smell and taste can not be separated from various food additives, such as sweeteners, preservatives, spices, monosodium glutamate, pigments and so on. Most of them are made by chemical synthesis or chemical separation.
Without the chemical technology of synthetic fiber, most people in the world would freeze to death, because the limited natural fiber is simply not enough. 195 The output of chemical fiber in China was 3.3 million tons, of which 90% was synthetic fiber ③. What's more, natural fibers such as pure cotton and wool are also made of cotton and wool after chemical treatment. Then synthetic rubber. If there were no synthetic rubber, how many hundreds of millions of people in the world's 6 billion people would wear sandals for the winter? Synthetic dyes have added a colorful landscape to the world. The so-called "adequate food and clothing" is the guarantee for the continuation of life. Without chemistry, there is no guarantee.
Look at the house where we live. The windows are made of lime, cement, steel, aluminum alloy, glass, plastic and other materials. Which is not a chemical product? There are no aluminum alloy wooden windows and chemical coatings; Even if you don't use glass, like some poor people's nylon cloth or even newspapers, what if it's not chemicals? There are also our daily necessities, such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, cosmetics, cleaning supplies and so on. , are all chemicals.
Out of the door, we stepped on the street paved with cement and saw tall buildings made of reinforced concrete, which were vehicles made of various plastics, rubber, glass and alloys. These vehicles are also inseparable from gasoline, diesel oil, various gasoline additives, antifreeze and various lubricating oils. All these are chemicals. Modern humans can't live without artificial chemicals. We are surrounded by artificial chemicals 24 hours a day.
Secondly, our health and longevity are also closely related to chemistry. When some chemical elements in the body are out of balance, it will lead to some diseases that endanger human health. 1953, American chemist Miller L conducted an experiment to simulate the atmospheric composition on the primitive earth. Amino acid ④ was synthesized from hydrogen, methane, ammonia and water vapor by heating and spark discharge. 1965 and 198 1 year, bovine insulin and yeast alanine transfer ribonucleic acid were synthesized for the first time in the world in China. The formation of protein and ribose is a turning point from inanimate to living. Since then, we humans have made a new breakthrough in our understanding of ourselves, laying the foundation for our human research on life and health. It is with the technology of synthesizing various antibiotics and a large number of new drugs that human beings can control infectious diseases, alleviate cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and prolong human life for 25 years. The healthy growth of human beings is inseparable from various nutrients and drugs. Without these chemicals, I don't know how many people in the world will suffer from this disease, and I don't know how many people will die.
As far as life itself is concerned, the process of life itself is the comprehensive expression of countless chemical changes.
A living organism must have the functions of storing and transmitting information, reproducing offspring, internal adjustment and external adaptation, and rational and effective use of environmental substances and energy. At the molecular level, these functions are the expression of organized chemical reactions between many bioactive molecules. In these reactions, the product of one reaction becomes the starting point of another. Life is based on a series of dynamic chemical processes that occur in cells and are regulated by the whole organism. When these processes stop, life stops. The cessation of life does not mean the end of all chemical reactions, but the beginning of another process in which all organisms decompose and degrade into inorganic substances.
Life is the foundation of society. Many people think that 2 1 century is the century of life science. Therefore, it is necessary to study the composition of life. The research of life science plays an important role in solving the main problems of human society such as food, energy and human health. The study of life science is inseparable from the study of chemistry, which is an interdisciplinary subject formed by the mutual infiltration of biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, medicine and environmental science.
Life is supported by countless organic compounds, including sugar, protein, amino acids, peptide bonds, enzymes and nucleic acids.
Sugar is a large class of organic compounds with biological functions that exist in nature. It is mainly formed by green plants through photosynthesis. It is composed of C, H and O, and its chemical formula is Cn(H2O)n, also called carbohydrate. Sugar includes monosaccharide, polysaccharide, starch, glycogen and cellulose. The need and utilization of energy in the biological world are inseparable from sugar. The main biological function of carbohydrates is to provide energy through biological oxidation to meet the energy demand of life activities. In the final analysis, the biological utilization of solar energy begins with the photosynthesis of plants and the fixation of CO2, which are closely related to the synthesis of sugars. Photosynthesis is the main way to convert light energy into chemical energy in nature. Sugar is not only the energy source of organisms, but also plays other roles in organisms. It also supports and protects the structure of various organisms and sometimes detoxifies. In a word, sugar is indispensable for maintaining life.
So is protein. 1839, German chemist Mnlder G T named it protein, which means "the first important", showing its importance. All protein contains C, N, O and H elements, mostly S or P, and some also contain other elements. Protein is an amino acid polymer, and the monomer produced during hydrolysis is called amino acid. There are many kinds of protein with different functions. Their extensive and diverse functions determine their physiological importance. Some protein plays the role of transportation, while others play the role of regulation or defense. Enzymes are also protein, which play a catalytic role and play a vital role in the metabolism of life.
Nucleic acid is composed of nucleotides, which are composed of bases, pentoses and phosphoric acid. Nucleic acids can be divided into two categories: RNA and DNA. DNA is a biological genetic material, which is the key to control heredity. DNA recombination technology is the dominant technology in genetic engineering research. The development of genetic engineering research will open up a new way for human beings to solve a series of major problems such as food and nutrition, health and environment, resources and energy, and it also has great economic development potential. If the bacteria producing threonine, tryptophan, lysine and other amino acids are transformed by DN recombination, cell fusion and other technologies, the amino acid content can be increased by dozens of times, and the production cost will be greatly reduced. These amino acid products are widely used in nutritious food, fresh food and feed additives, thus partially replacing food. If the genetic engineering of biological nitrogen fixation can cultivate crops that supply nitrogen by themselves, so that all plants such as wheat, rice and corn can fix molecular nitrogen by themselves like leguminous plants and convert it into a state that plants can absorb, nitrogen in the air can be directly utilized, which can not only increase crop yield and protein content, but also greatly save chemical fertilizers, reduce production costs and reduce environmental pollution.
In a word, both the life itself as a process and the external material conditions for maintaining life are inseparable from chemistry. Without life, there is chemistry. Without chemistry, there would be no more life. Chemistry is the pillar of life and the pillar and motive force of social existence and development.