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Biomolecules and their reactions are studied in biology and its subfields of biochemistry and molecular biology. Most biomolecules are organic compounds , and just four elements — oxygen , carbon , hydrogen , and nitrogen —make up 96% of the human body 's mass.
Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. [1] A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, and metabolism. Over the last decades of the 20th century, biochemistry has become successful at ...
Organic matter, organic material, or natural organic matter refers to the large source of carbon-based compounds found within natural and engineered, terrestrial, and aquatic environments. It is matter composed of organic compounds that have come from the feces and remains of organisms such as plants and animals . [ 1 ]
Organic compounds containing bonds of carbon to nitrogen, oxygen and the halogens are not normally grouped separately. Others are sometimes put into major groups within organic chemistry and discussed under titles such as organosulfur chemistry, organometallic chemistry, organophosphorus chemistry and organosilicon chemistry.
Molecular biology – study of biology and biological functions at the molecular level, with some cross over from biochemistry. Structural biology – a branch of molecular biology, biochemistry, and biophysics concerned with the molecular structure of biological macromolecules. Health sciences and human biology – biology of humans.
Cyanobacteria such as these carry out photosynthesis.Their emergence foreshadowed the evolution of many photosynthetic plants and oxygenated Earth's atmosphere.. Biological carbon fixation, or сarbon assimilation, is the process by which living organisms convert inorganic carbon (particularly carbon dioxide, CO 2) to organic compounds.
One major distinction is between natural and synthetic compounds. Organic compounds can also be classified or subdivided by the presence of heteroatoms, e.g., organometallic compounds, which feature bonds between carbon and a metal, and organophosphorus compounds, which feature bonds between carbon and a phosphorus. [citation needed]
The branch of chemistry that studies organic compounds is known as organic chemistry. [ 15 ] Carbon is the 15th most abundant element in the Earth's crust , and the fourth most abundant element in the universe by mass, after hydrogen , helium , and oxygen .