Following the first four animated workbooks from By Inquisition (Organic Chemistry Concepts, Introductory Organic Mechanisms, Organic Spectroscopy and Spectrometry, Additions Of Alcohols And Amines To Aldehydes And Ketones) this is the first opportunity to introduce Nucleic Acid Chemistry. Chapters are: (i) benzenoids and aromaticity; (ii) heterocycles and aromaticity; (iii) nucleic acids: and, (iv) DNA synthesis, amplification, sequencing, and editing. The first chapter introduces how aromaticity arises, the scope and limitations of the 4n+2 rule. In the second, important heterocycles to learn are presented (spoiler: pyran, furan, 1,3-pyrimidine, purine, pyrrole, imidazole and indole: can you guess why?) how aromaticity effects acidity of heterocycles, as a segue into how they might H-bond in nucleic acids. That hydrogen bonding pattern is introduced in the next section, but first nucleoside structures, drugs and prodrugs. Mono-, di-, and triphosphates are covered with a video to explain why these are anhydrides, and how fundamentally important they are to life. Chemistry necessary to molecular biology is introduced in the final chapters, or step-by-step processes involving DNA. Those processes are solid phase syntheses of oligonucleotides, how to use them to amplify genomic DNA in the PCR reaction, Sanger and next generation sequencing, and an introduction into gene editing via CRISPR. Many of those subjects may be covered again, and in more depth, in other courses, but they are introduced here from their roots upwards: chemical interactions. A premed student recently told me she completed two semesters of sophomore organic chemistry without learning anything relevant to medical school. This should not happen because more than 90% of introductory organic chemistry students major in in life sciences, eg pre-med, dentistry, biochemistry, virology, immunology, chemistry etc.. They need more about chemistry of the major biomolecules: lipids, carbohydrates, nucleic acids, peptides and proteins than they usually get, and less about laboratory synthetic methods. Consequently this eworkbook series introduces the chemistry of biomolecules in depth, and earlier than in most textbooks, giving time to revisit it later in the course. They are animated with videos, interleaved with problems to encourage students to understand by practice. The intention is students should watch videos as they are introduced in the book, then try to answer the problems covering theory and applications of each subject. All the videos linked to in this book are freely available on YouTube. They can be viewed within the etext protecting students from the temptation from distraction. Overall, this eworkbook is designed to challenge undergraduates so they should be able handle even difficult questions on exams and the final; excellent, books of easy problems are available from others elsewhere. Answers to all the problems are online at byinquisition.org. This book is offered at a reduced, introductory price for at least six months.
