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 The essenti.al concepts

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 ontents at a a nee

Periodic table of the elements

Acknowledgements ×|×

Welcome to Chemistry for the Biosciences ××

唱’’’－
1 Introduction: why biologists need chemistry

’－
2 Atoms: the foundations of life

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A吨。。
3 Compounds and chemical bonding: bringing atoms together
4 Molecular interactions: holding 1t all together

’
5 Moles, concentrations, and dilutions: making sense of
chemical numbers 127
6 Organic compounds 1: hydrocarbons as the framework of life 166
7 Organic compounds 2: adding function to the framework of life 192
8 Molecular shape and structure: life in three dimensions 228
9 Isomerism: generating chemical variety 257
10 Biological macromolecules: providing life’s infrastructure 293
11 Metals in biology: life beyond carbon 346
12 Chemical reactions 1: bringing molecules to life 373
13 Chemical reactions 2: reaction mechanisms driving the
chemistry of life 414
14 Energy: what makes reactions go? 463
15 Equilibria: how far do reactions go? 514
16 Kinetics: what a仔ects the speed of a reaction? 559
17 Acids, ba.ses, and buffer solutions: life in an aqueous environment 606
18 Chemical analysis: characterizing chemical compounds 660

Bibliognαphy 717
A门swers to self-check questions 720
l门dex 728
This pαge intentionαlly left blαnk
 ontents

Periodic table of the elements

Acknowledgemen 也 ×|×

Welcome to Chemistry for the Biosciences ××

1 Introduction: why biologists need chemistry

1.1 The chemical basis of biology

1.2 Science: revealing our world

I'm a biologist: what has chemistry to do with me?

1.3 The essential concepts that unify chemistry and biology

1.4 The language of chemistry 8

Units: making sense of numbers 9
Using prefi ×es 10
Symbols 11

22
11
2 Atoms: the foundations of life
2.1 The chemical elements 4
3
34
11
The periodic table
What does 'element' real ly mean?
15
2.2 Atomic composition
6789
1111222
Protons, electrons, and electrical charge
Identifying the composition of an atom: atomic number a门d mass number
The formation of ions: varying the number of electrons
Ionization energies: how easy is it to let go?
12
Isotopes: varying the number of neutrons
Relative abu 门dances and relative atom ic mass
5
How protons determine chemical identity
26
2.3 Atomic structure
26
Atomic orbitals

2.4 The energy of atoms 28

Orbitals and their energy levels 28
Fi 11i 门g up orbitals - the building-up principle 29
The fi lling of subshel ls 31
Movi 门g between orbitals: electron excitation 33
The quantization of energy 37
x Contents

ny
2.5 Valence shells and valence electrons: an atom's outer limits
44

nU
Valence electrons a门d the underlying logic of the periodic table

「／」
The variety of life: not so varied after al l?

3 Compounds and chemical bonding: bringing atoms together 45

45
3.1 The formation of compounds
67
44
The chem ical bo 门d : bridging the gap between atoms
Which electro 门 configuration is most stable?
45
90
3.2 Valence shells and Lewis dot symbols

3.3 Bond formation: redistributing valence electrons

1
55
Electronegativity: how easi ly can electrons be transferred?
4
Ionic and covalent bonding in nature: which is more prevalent?
54
3.4 The ionic bond: transferring electrons
56
The filling of shells by ionic bonding: how many electrons are transferred?
60
3.5 The covalent bond: sharing electrons
6666
11
Covalent compounds and electrical charge
The distribution of electrons in covalent bonds
33
Non - bondi 门g pairs of electrons

Coordinate bonding: covalent bonding with a twist

65
3.6 Molecular orbitals in covalent compounds

3.7 The formation of multiple covalent bonds 67

Sigma and pi orbitals 67
Valency: how many bo 门ds can an atom form? 68
Sharing one pair of electrons: the single bond 68
Sharing two pairs of electrons: the double bond 69
Sharing three pairs of electrons: the triple bo 门d 70
Satisfying valency with multiple bonds 71
Hypervalency: going beyond the oct吼叫 l e 71
4
7’
3.8 Aromatic compounds and conjugated bonds 7／
6
Delocalization in no 门－co 门u ugated systems
79
吁，亏’

3.9 Polyatomic ionic compounds

3.10 Blurring the boundaries: polarized bonds

0
0000

How strongly is a bo 门d polarized?

1
Non -polar covalent bonds

Chemical Toolkit 1: Writing down the composition of compounds

and molecules 85

Chemical Toolkit 2: Using Lewis structures 86

4 Molecular interactions: holding it all together 87

8
吁’

4.1 Chemical bonding versus non-covalent interactions

89
oonu

The significance of molecular interactions

｜ 门tramolecular versus intermolecular interactions
 Contents XI

92
4.2 Electrostatic forces: the foundations of molecular interactions
93
Polar bonds in non-polar molecu les
95
4.3 The van der Waals interaction
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Permanent di polar interactions

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Steric repu lsion

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Balancing attraction and repu lsion: the van der Waals interaction
03

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4.4 Beyond van der Waals: other biologically essential interactions

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Hydrogen bonds

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Ionic fo「ces

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Hydrophobic forces

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Holding it together: non-covalent interactions in biological molecules

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4.5 The impact of molecular interactions on water solubility
16

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The role of solvation in aqueous systems

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...19

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4.6 Breaking molecular interactions: the three phases of ma忧er
222
123

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The transition between phases

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The impact of non-covalent interactions on phases

5 Moles, concentrations, and dilutions: making

sense of chemical numbers 127
5.1 The mole 127
The relationship betwee 门 mo lar quantity and mass: molar mass 128

5.2 Concentrations 132

Calculating the amount of substance in solutio 门 133
Prepari 门g a solution of known conce门trati o 门 134
Calculating the co 门centration of a solution 137

5.3 Changing the concentration: solutions and dilutions 138

Serial dilutions 142

5.4 Measuring concentrations 146

丁1trations: using chemical reactio 门S to measure concentrations 147
UV- visible spectroscopy 151
Atomic spectroscopy 157
Fluorescence spectroscopy 159

Maths Tool 1: Rearranging equations 164

6 Organic compounds 1: hydrocarbons as the

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66
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framework of life
6.1 Organic chemist叩
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7
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Ca「bon in our world ’
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丁he key components of organic compou 门ds
x ” Contents

6.2 Hydrocarbons: the framework of organic compounds 172

6.3 Members of the hydrocarbon family 176

The alkanes 176
The alkenes: hydrocarbons with a double carbo 门－carbon bond 181
The alkynes: hydrocarbons with a triple carbon- carbon bond 182
The aryl group: a special hydrocarbon group 182

6.4 Physical and chemical prope此ies of the hydrocarbons 183

Chemical properties of the hydrocarbons 185

Chemical Toolkit 3: Using chemical notation: drawing chemical structures 189

7 Organic compounds 2: adding function to the

framework of life 192
7.1 Adding functional groups to the hydrocarbon framework 192
The e忏ect of functio 门al groups on the properties of orga门 i c compounds 193
Fu 门ctional groups versus the hydrocarbon framework: a balancing act 195

7.2 Organic compounds with oxygen-based functional groups 196

The alcohols: the hydro×yl group 197
The ethers: the alkoxy group 200
The aldehydes and keto 门es: the carbonyl group 203
The carbo×ylic acids: combi 门 i ng the hydro×yl and carbonyl groups 207
The este「s: a modified carbo×yl group 210

7.3 Organic compounds with nitrogen-based functional groups 213

The amines: the am ino group 213
The amides: the amide group 219

7.4 Other functional groups 221

The th iols and the su lfur-based functio 门al group 221
The haloalkanes and the halogen-based fu 门ctional group 224

8 Molecular shape and structure: life in three dimensions 228

8.1 What influences the shape of molecules? 228
Bond lengths 229

8.2 Bond angles 232

Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion (VSEPR) 233
VSEPR theory and the shape of molecu les with multiple bonds 237
The geometry of atoms in larger molecu les 239

8.3 Hybridization of atomic orbitals during bond formation 239

Hybridization during double and triple bond formation 242

8.4 Bond rotation and conformation 248

Conformation versus configuration 250
Lim itations on bond rotation 252
 Contents
x ”’

9 Isomerism: generating chemical variety 257

57

、4
9 .1 What are isomers?
88
55

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Structural isomers

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Stereoisomers
59

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9.2 Structural isomers
5666
9002

「／
Distinguish ing structural isomers

「」
47L
Generating st「uctural isomers: the shape of the carbon framework
Generating structural isomers: the positioni 门g of functio 门al groups

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Structural isomerism: un i fyi 门g chem ical famil ies
64

、4
9.3 Cis-trans isomers
67
40

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Cis-trans isomerism in molecules with a double bond

「／
Cis-trans isomerism in cyclic structures

－
71

、4
9.4 Enantiomers and chirality
370
778

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Chirality

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How do we distinguish one e门antiomer from its mirror image?

「／
Chiral ity in biological systems

」
81

、4
9.5 The chemistry of isomers
The biological chemistry of enantiomers 284
The impact of chiral ity on medicinal chem istrγ285

Chemical Toolkit 4: Using nomenclature to specify the structure of compounds 290

10 Biological macromolecules: providing life’s infrastructure 293

10.1 Amino acids and proteins 293
The composition of amino acids 294
Formatio 门 of polypeptides 296
The shape and structure of polypeptides 300
The hierarchy of biological structure 31 1

10.2 Nucleic acids 313

Nucleotides and their composition 313
Formatio 门 of nucleic acids 316
The shape and structure of nucleic acids 318
Nucleic acids: nature's energy stores 326

10.3 Carbohydrates 326

The structure of mo 门osaccharides 328
The shape and structure of larger sugars 33 1

10.4 Lipids 335

Steroids 335
Triacylglycerols 338
Glycerophospholipids 340

11 Metals in biology:“fe beyond carbon 346

11.1 What are metals? 346
XIV Contents

Which eleme 门ts are metals? 347

11.2 Metals in cell signalling 350

The role of metals in neNe impu lses 350
Calcium signal ling 353

11 .3 Metals as biological building materials 357

11 .4 Metals and the structure and function of proteins 358

Metals and molecular structure: the zinc finger motif 359
Metals as binding sites 361

11 .5 Metals in cell metabolism 364

Metals in biochemical reactions 366
Metals in energy tra门sduction 370

12 Chemical reactions 1: bringing molecules to life 373

12.1 What is a chemical reaction? 373
The stoichiometrγof chemical reactions 375

12.2 The molecular basis of chemical reactions 376

How do valence electrons move during chemical reactions? 376
Depicting the movement of electrons 378

12.3 Heterolytic reactions 379

Nucleophi lic attack 382
The polarization of bonds during heterolytic reactions 382

12.4 Homolytic reactions 385

Homolytic versus heterolytic cleavage 385
The stages of a homolytic reaction 386
Free radicals in biological systems 390

12.5 Oxidation and reduction 391

Redox reactions: the t「ansfer of electrons 392
Measuring the standard reduction potential: the electrochemical ce 川 394
Using oxidatio 门门umbers to track redox reactions 398

12.6 Oxidation and reduction in biological systems 404

Electron carriers in biological systems: some e×am pies 407
Oxidation and reduction during enzyme catalysis 410

13 Chemical reactions 2: reaction mechanisms driving

the chemistry of life 414
13.1 An introduction to reaction mechanisms 414
Tra门sition states a门d intermediates 415

13.2 Substitution reactions 418

Aliphatic nucleophilic substitutio 门 reactions 418
Electrophilic substitution reactions 421

13.3 Nucleophilic addition reactions 424

 Contents xv

Addition across a carbonyl double bond 428

Hydration of carbonyl groups 430
The reaction of carbonyl groups to form acetals and ketals 432
Reactions of enols and enolate anions 434
The aldol 「eaction 436

13.4 日imination reactions 436

。门e- step versus two-step elimination 438
Elimination versus substitution 439

13.5 Condensation 441

Hydrolysis: reve「sing conde 门sation 443

13.6 Biochemical reactions: from food to energy 447

The reactio门 mechanisms underpinni 门g glycolysis 448
Beyond glycolysis: how the o×idation of glucose ultimately powers the cell 457

14 Energy: what makes reactions go? 463

14.1 What is energy? 463
The conservation of energy 464
Kinetic energy 465
Potential energy 467

14.2 Energy transfer 470

The transfe「 of energy as work 472
The transfer of energy as heat 473
Molecules and energy transfer 475

14.3 Energy changes during chemical reactions 476

Calculating an enthalpy change using bond energies 481
Enthalpy changes for different processes 483
Calculating an enthalpy change using standard enthalpy changes of formation 484
Measuring the enthalpy of a reaction directly 486
Enthalpy changes in biological systems 487
The enthalpy change as a measure of the stability of chem ical compounds 487

14.4 Entropy: the distribution of energy as the engine of change 488

Ent「opy in chemical and biological systems 490
丁he link between entropy and e门ergy 492
The e门tropy of spo 门ta门eous reactions 495

14.5 How do we make non-spontaneous processes happen? 498

14.6 Gibbs free energy: the driving force of chemical reactions 501
The Gibbs free energy of spontaneous reactions 504
Gibbs f「ee energy and ce川 metabolism 507

Chemical Toolkit 5: Standard states: making sense of measurements 513

15 Equilibria: how far do reactions go? 514

15.1 Equilibrium reactions 514
XVI Contents

Equi librium reactions a门d cha门ge 516

Does it matter which reaction is ’forward' and wh ich is ’back'? 520

15.2 Forward and back reactions: where is the balance struck? 522
The equ ilibrium co 门stant 523
The equ ilibrium co 门stant using partial pressures 525
The magnitude of equi librium constants 527
The dependence of equi l ib 「ium constants on temperature and concentration 530

15.3 The reaction quotient 531

Predicting the direction of a reaction 533

15.4 Binding reactions in biological systems 535

What does the dissociatio 门 constant tell us? 537

15.5 Pe同urbing an equilibrium 539

Changi 门g the concentration of the system 541
Changing the pressure or volume of the system 543
Changi 门g the temperature 546
Catalysts and chemical equil ibria 548

15.6 Free energy and chemical equilibria 548

The free e门ergy of a reaction at equ ilibrium 549
The van’t Hoff isotherm: linki 门g Kand ~G 550
Using the van’t Hoff isotherm to predict spontaneity 551
Usi 门g the van’t Hoff isotherm to predict the position of equ ilibrium 552

Maths Tool 2: Handling brackets 556

Maths Tool 3: The exponential and logarithmic functions 557

16 Kinetics: what a仔·ects the speed of a reaction? 559

59

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16.1 The rate of reaction
66
1

「3
What is the rate of a reaction 7
4
「3
The dependence of reaction rate o门 concentratio 门
Rd 69
16.2 The collision theory of reaction rates
0
77
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｜ 门creasing the concentration

1
厂3

Increasing the temperature

72
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16.3 The activation energy: ge忧i ng reactions started

74
「3

Breaking the energy barrier: the trans i tio 门 state

16.4 Catalysis: lowering the activation energy 575

The role of catalysts in chem ical 「eactions 575

16.5 Enzymes: the biological catalysts 578

The specificity of enzymes 579
What happens during enzyme catalysis? 582
Allosteric control 584
The limitations of being a protein 585

16.6 Enzyme kinetics 587

 Contents XVII

Increasing substrate co 门centration: the limitation of the enzyme兰 active site 588
Determining the values of KM and νmax 591

16.7 Enzyme inhibition 596

Irreversible i 门hibition 597
Reversible inhibition 597

Maths Tool 4: Measuring the gradient of a curve 603

17 Acids, bases, and buffer solutions: life in an aqueous environment 606

17.1 Acids and bases: making life happen 606
Defini 门g acids and bases 607
Acids and bases in aqueous solution 608
Pairi 门g up acids and bases: the co 门uugate acid - base pair 610

17.2 The strength of acids and bases: to what extent does the
dissociation reaction occur? 614
Juggling hydroge 门 ions: the tug- o乎war between conjugate acid- base pairs 616
The acid dissociation constant: to what e×tent does a门 acid dissociate? 617
The base dissociation co门stant 619
pKaand pKb 620

17.3 Keeping things balanced: the ion product of water 623

Making use of the io 门 product of water 625
Linking Kw, Ka, a门d Kb 625

17.4 Measuring the concentration of acids: the pH scale 627

The pH of strong and weak acids 629
Linking weak acid strength and pH: using the Henderson -Hasselbalch equation 632
pH and the ion product of water: balancing [H+] and [OH-] 635
Changing pH: neutralizatio 门 reactions 636
pOH: the basic equivale 门t of pH 638

17.5 The behaviour of acids and bases in biological systems 640

The e忏ect of acidity and basicity on partitioning between aqueous and hydrophobic systems 640
丁he e忏ect of pH on the e×te 门t of acid dissociation 641

17.6 Buffer solutions: keeping pH the same 645

How does a bu忏er solution work? 646
The pH of buffer solutions 650
Preparing bu忏er solutions to a desired pH 653

Maths Tool 5: Solving quadratic equations 659

18 Chemical analysis: characterizing chemical compounds 660

18.1 What is chemical analysis? 660

18.2 How do we separate out what is there? 661

Solvent extraction 662
Chromatography 666
xviii l Contents

26
77

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Electrophoresis
Centrifugation
80

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18.3 Measuring mass: mass spectromet叩
03
88

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How does mass spectrometry work?
丁he mass spectrum: the outcome of mass spectrometry
80
89

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18.4 Coupling separation and identification

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18.5 Building up the picture: spectroscopic techniques
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Spectroscopy and electromagnetic radiation
What are we measuring during spectroscopy?
Using spectroscopy to characterize chem ical compounds

18.6 Characterizing the hydrocarbon framework: nuclear magnetic

resonance spectroscopy 694
13(-NMR 696
1H-NMR 699
The use of NMR to analyse mixtures 700

18.7 Identifying functional groups (1 ): infrared spectroscopy 702

18.8 Identifying functional groups (2): UV-visible spectroscopy 708

The UV- visible spectrum 710

18.9 Establishing 3D structure: X-ray crystallography 711

丁he crystal problem - keeping things real 714

Bibliography 717
Answers to self-check questions 720
Index 728
 cKnow1e e 门丁 e nts

We are grateful for the input from a number of colleagues during the preparation of
this third edition, most notably colleagues at Oxford Brookes University, Dr Caroline
Gri 忏iths , Dr Peter Grebenik, Dr Alwyn Griffiths, and Professor David Fell, who all con -
tributed with helpful discussion and scrutiny of parts of the text. We also thank those
reviewers who provided critical feedback on the second edition, which shaped many
of the changes we have made for this third edition:

Nick Brewer, University of Dundee

Paul Hagan, University of Ulster
James McEvoy, Royal Holloway, University of London
Nicola Slee, University of Essex
Renko de Vries, Wageningen University

It goes without saying that any mistakes or errors that remain are solely our
responsibility.
We also received valuable help with the preparation of some artwork for the book.
We thank Dr James Keel 凹， U niversity of Cambridge, for preparing the orbital images
that appear in Chapters 2, 3, and 8; and to Professor Peter Atkins, University of Oxford,
for providing the electrostatic surface plots that appear in Chapters 3 and 4.
Chemical structures were prepared using a combination of ChemDraw Standard
12.0 and Chem3D Ultra 9.0. Biological structures were generated using the open -
source software PyMOL (Delano, W. L. The PyMOL Molecular Graphics System (2002)
on the World Wide Web at http://www.pymol.org/ ), using data from the Protein
Data Bank (http://www.rcsb.org/ pbd/ ).
We'd also like to gratefully acknowledge those individuals at Oxford University Press
who have steered the third edition through to completion. We thank Sarah Lodge for
her valuable support, and our production editor, Suzy Armitage, for her careful atten -
tion throughout the production process. We also thank Julian Thomas and Heather
Addison, our copy-editor and proofreader respectively, from whose eagle eyes the
book has doubtless benefited greatly.
Finally, we give grateful thanks to our families, friends, and colleagues who have
continued to offer encouragement and support, despite the neglect they have expe-
rienced in the face of the self-imposed solitary confinement with a laptop that book-
writing demands.
JWC, Oxford
TKB Oxford
June2013
 e1co 门丁 e to emist or tne
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1osc1ences

F。r students using this b。。k

We ’ve written this book to try to make learning the essentials of chemistry as easy
and enjoyable as possible. You might be asking yourse lf 'Why should I bother with
chem istry at all?' We've devoted Chapter 1 to answering this question; take a look at
that chapter before you start reading the rest of the book.

Helping you to learn the essentials of chemistry

We ’ve included a number of features to make this book as effective a learning tool as
possible. These features include the following.

To help you master the essentials

Chemical toolkits
CHEMICAL TO。LKIT 1 W r i t ing down the composition of c o mpounds an:
There are certain skills you need at your disposal to really
The chemical formula F。r example, a molecule 。他luc。secom

1mponant part of science 1s being able to share ideas and bon, twelve atoms of hydrogen. and s, be able to understand chemistry. 丁hese skil ls, which apply
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formula , we follow two other convent10, to topics covered throughout the book, are presented in
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,dent,ty of the ch I el Asim, • We list the composite elements ,
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1s ,s called the cl、emical f。rmula. }
ment that a目 present. So. for exam
nic compound accurately we need to iden- rather than C606H,2.
this edition:
• If the molecule contains a single

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Qe number of ions of each element p陀sent in the

s,milar,ty here w,th the chem,cal
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• Writing down the composition of compounds and
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fied using the same chemical syrnb。Is introduced ,n Chapter 2 • The chemical formula tells u;
(Na. Cl. M~. e叫。 number of ions present in a • Using Lewis structures, p 86
• Using chemical notation: drawing chemical structures,
p 189
• Using nomenclature to specify the structure of
compounds, p 290
• Standard states: making sense of measurements, p 513

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 We i ζom e to Chemist印 for the Biosciences XXI

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you can see how different to pics fit together to give
the overal l ’ big picture' of chemistry.
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you grasp the key co ncepts as q uickly and easi ly as Thequest toidentify the range ofsubstances fro111 whichall living things are n1ade
has involvedanun1ber ofgreat scientists overthecourse ofhundreds ofyears.
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Footnotes . 4,echemical elements.

there are 92 natural takenn1anyyearsto isolate and characterize thedifferent elen1ents.
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Maths tools
Many students fi nd th e use of mathematics in bio logy to be
hugely intimidating. Howeve r, mathematical and nu meri -
cal too ls are amongst some of the most useful too ls at the
bio logist's d isposal - he lpi ng us, for example, to analyse MATHS TOOL 1 Rearranging equations
and make sense of data. In fac t - and desp ite fi rst impres- an equation, we typically ,.vant to get an
we 陀arrange Solution

sions - maths can actually help to simplify the biological term (the variable we’re to calculate) by itself
Lrγ1ng
of the equation, and any known terms (the vari- 专 x Jf
wo rl d, by helping us to mode l and describe processes and dv know the value of) on the other side of the
MATHS TOO、 ，
日

an equation, we move the terms

e何·ecttvely Again, notice how the two b ter
re lations hi ps in a way that would be impossib le otherwise. atrme to separate the known andunknown equation cancel eachother out
'e r to move aterm from one side of an equa- cancels out the action of divid1
In recognitio n of th e central ro le maths can play (alo ng- When we rear ra 阶ther, we 附d to reve明 whate叩 mathemati- right-hand side of the equation
k 幽《 ft ion is b eingapplied to 阳阳m in 阳 original
side chemistry) in unde rstandi ng biological systems, we nown ter.@ion: lfwe need to move more than
lar,unknownterm. we just nee,
have inclu ded a smal l numbe r of Maths Too ls, which give · To reverse an addition, we have to subtract by reversing the operationbe1
· To reverse asubtraction,we have to add equation
an overview of some of the mathematical too ls that we · To reverse amultiplication,we have to divide EXAMPLE
use in the text. If yo u’re co nfident in the use of maths then
you won't need to loo k at these Too ls; if you1re less confi-
dent, however, you may want to take a look at them, just
to refresh your memory, or deve lop your understand ing.
We include fi ve Maths Too ls in this edition:

• Rearranging eq uatio ns, p 164

• Hand ling brackets, p 556
• The expone ntial and logarithm ic functio ns, p 557
• Measu ring the grad ient of a curve, p 603
• Solvi ng quadratic equations, p 659
><XII Welcome to Chemistry for the Biosciences

Eventhoughprotonsandelectronsalwaysbear an electricalcharge.al atoms Figure a nn otatio ns

...
… e ,-
areuncharged.This lackofchargeoccurs because thenumber ofelectronsin
anammalwaysexactlyequalsthenumberofprotons.Lookat Figure 22,which
shows the positivecharges ontheprotonsarecancelled out'bytheequiv-
ho、v ’
Many of the figures include additional annotations to
alem number of charges on the
ne事ative atomuncharged
electro时， .l eav，咆，he
ove.rall.
make it as clear as poss ible what the figure is showing.
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eq ，』31 f' 』mber ri，叹
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To make chemistry relevant to you

BOX2.2 of plants:
Thew。rid ah。由ed ofdiscriminati。n Boxes
We m1gh1 of a
1hink 出3i ISOI。pes sin田e e阳ne时 are 回回叩 slowly than ’ico,w11h,n the chloroplasts; nco,gets t。wt回re
1hat 1hey arev,rtually
SI 阳lar Does adiffer-
,nd剧nguishable IIos needed m。requ,ckl机 and s。 is prefcren11ally metabolized Each chapter features a number of boxes that supp le -
sognificance? To plants, at
旦nee of 。ne neutron 陪ally 臼叫 any ofplam discriminate agamst 1ico,to
D,ffere,it 可pes d,ff，田－
to be
,ns•、咀＂ appears 'ye正 eMdegre目。 h。W趴剧 Plants can bed,v,ded ,nto <hree differem ment the main text. In some cases, these boxes pro -
te the,r own food supph白 byphot，。syn由血’去 group,,wh,ch a附 dosongu曲时 by 由e 叩peof pho<o叩n由es1s
from the
,carb。n d，。x,de and
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＇ ℃07
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organelles
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BOX 2.2 ,owered by absorbed by the ene咆y plants Thos d，他町、cein 1飞 upta陆can tel interesting
uss。me
things.For example,sucrose (table sugar) comes from either which isn ’t central to your grasping the subject matter,
,ox,de (CO,)contains two ,soto阳sof sugar beet (a C, sugai cane {a C,plant). If
plant）。r a 臼mple

9% "Cand
l咱p。ruo时93 11 伊一飞（It of sucro臼 containsarelauvely amount ol "Cthen we
h唱h
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e mie:ht t hiL＇阳p：~nts d,scnm川…？州飞and (because C,plants abso巾 13( (as 13CO边 toa g陪ater deg附e

0 ' ' ' ·pbohze than 13(02. But how

"CO， 阳ther than c,plants). ever, they show how the chemical concepts being intro -
, . , ,, atebetw。e『，，oms 。tcarb。『、 that d 1ffe『 by Meas«r,ng "Cle崎Is ，。f出s,h2ed plants I、回趴峰。g,venusan
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fos时，zed

巾οce noneα＂＇’tro阳s制。υght。make ’3C02 heav’e( suddenly ine<eased m,lhon years

aboυt 7 ago， 印，gg臼ung 【hat duced apply to biological systems - examples of where
than "CO, The extra 叭咱ght causes "CO, t。 diffose mo崎 C, pla咄 evolved at that t<me
ab。M

chemistry quite literally comes to life. If you're reading

the main text and find yourself thinking 1So what?1, read
some of the boxes to see how chemistry really is impor-
tant in biological systems.

To reinforce your learning

- ,ome elements can exhibit different valenci肘， and therefore contribute to Self-c heck qu estions
different numbers of covalent bonds.

We recommend that you attempt the self-check ques-

Sulfuris anotherimportant element,which avariablevalen
biolo且ical e，让tibits
In biological systems,sulfur typically exhibitsavalencyof2,aswewitness in 叫 tions as you work through each chapter: they are an
Self-check 3. amino acid (2).However,sulfur can alsoexhibitavalencyofsix,
C）＇时eine, as s叫
in thecompoundsulfur hexachloride, SF6 （匀，
ideal way of checking whether you1ve properly got to
Look at structu Self-check 3.12
of 3s23p4. Whi at (2)and L。。k beanng in mind sulfur's electronic
structυres (3），咐，le c。nfigurau
grips with the concepts being introduced. Answers to
of of 1he following staternents
3s23扩 Wh,ch 10 two ,el刮目 correctly th臼e figur创

(a) Sulfur h (a) Sulfur has an octet of in both structures 2and 3.

eλpanded el四rons self-check questions are given at the end of the book so
(b)Sulfur has an expanded octet of electrons m but not stflJcture 3 struαu陪 2.
(c) Sulfur has eleclfons in
an 臼pandedoc阳 of but not 2. structu陪 3, st阳cture you can qu ickly check whether you're on the right lines.
(d)Sulfur an expanded octet of electrons ,neither
do白的 have struαu陪

Full solutions to numerical questions are provided in

the book1s Online Resource Centre. Take a look at these
solutions if you ’re not sure of the strategy required to
complete a particular calculation.

You can find the Online Resource Centre at

http:/ /www.oxfordtextbooks.eo.uk/ orc/ crowe3e/.

•a ge ref臼-ence:
O nli ne q u izzi ng
ge 陀

To supplement the self-check questions provided

or0'<\4ng Is che corr民.tbondang旬出队•，<een atOOls adopting a lrigo!'回 throughout the text, the On line Resource Centre fea-
二stion 2
.. tures a bank of over 150 additional questions in multi-
Which one oc the follo pie-choice question format. Particu larly useful as a way
1anar geometry?
an主WU': of checking what you do or don't understand prior to
12u exams (to he lp focus your revision time), the multip le-
choice questions are accompanied by feedback that
refers back to the book so you can re-read topics that
you ’re less confident about.
 Weiζome to Chemist印 for the Biosciences

Problem -solving worksheets

Problem-solvi ng worksheets, also available via the
book's Online Resource Centre have been written to et some extra p~tsomeex饲阳
give yo u some extra practice in developing yo ur data- 吵『咆 OIAcantul比.iru dlldd.也邸’也

working out concentr;

handli ng ski lls. Various topics in chemistry involve the I (I) \'1111嗣同 l'!O ＇＂如何鹏$01 四川”刷刷刷ρ

handli ng of data - from the calculation of co ncentrations

and dilutions, to the rate of enzyme-catalysed reactions.
Complete the worksheet s to banish any fear of data-
handli ng that you might previously have had!

Key points
Key points appear throughout many chapters, and state
the mai n take-home messages of the sections in which
they appear. If yo u don’t quite grasp the key points, then
try re-readi ng the section.
Checklists of key concepts
Each chapter ends with a checklist of key concepts, which
or cwo-lerter chemical symbols that act as al>l:>reviattons for their full names.
Similarly, each element has two numbers associated with it which enable us to
iclemify at a glance the number of protons, eleccrons and neutrons it contams -
that 1s, its atomic composition. These two numbers are che atomic number and
mass number.
• Theatom
The atontic number (s。metimes called the proton n umber) cells us the mun -
ber of protons within the atom. By implication, this number also indicates the
number of electrons in the atom (Remember for an atom to bea neutral particle
electrons i ic must conta111 exact!}’ the same number of protons and electrons.)
The mass number indicates the total number of prc)tons and neutrons that the
atom conrains. To de阻rmine the number of neutrons 111 an atom, we merely sub-
• The mαSS tract the atomic number (number of protons) from the mass number (number of
protons+ neutrons)
neutrons
• Thea 阳m,c number is equal to both the number of protons and the number of
electrons in a neutral atom of a giνen element.
• The mass number ind,cates the number of protons plus the number of
neutrons that an atom of a giν·en element contains.

summarize the key learning poi nts covered in th e chap -

ter. Use this checklist as a quick and easy way of revising
the mai n points add ressed, and as a prompt for goi ng
back to re-read any sections you're not sure about. Checklist of key concepts

The chemical elements · Elements 。n the left of the penod,c 旧blehave 陪lauvely
Any feed back? · 川I mat回riscomp。坦d of a range of subs山ances called the
l。w 1on,zau。n ene喃自， and 陀ad1ly form posltl峭沪
charged ions
~ elements
· Elements on then价I of the periodic table have relatively
:(II element has a name a，、d ashor{hand
If you have any feedback on the book - did you fi nd any hrgh ronizatr刷刷饨’目， and are very unlikely to forni
positively-cha咆ed ions

Check怀；~~：~：；二：：1；~~： • I 白白pes are atoms of the same element !hat con田Ill

feature particu larly helpful? Did you find anything dif- different numb町， of neuirons
. I四topes ofa single 刷刷eni occurin d，何erent abundances
,lυ『、t【 ，n 、vt、’ch an ‘1le内、enica内
ficult to fo ll ow? - do get in touch via the book's Online · An elerr阳的 陀lative atomic mass is a weighted average
。f the mass numbers 。f 归 natu用lly occurring 1sotop臼

· An element’s at。mic m晶s ,s the mass 。f an atom of a

Resource Centre at http://ww w.oxfordtextbooks. s ingle 回tope

叩lays all
the known chem,cal

co.u k/ orc/ crowe3e/ Thechemi 卜。f ascend mg atom,c nυmber

1ble compnses a senes of seven h。nzon国！
led pen。ds, and a series of 18 vertical columns,
'.ailed gr。ups
· Penod,ci时，s 1he gradual change ,n chemical property
’ t'\M t:>l t>Mt:>r"I I II"\ t:>lt:>r'r、。内『 ＞＜、，，..’”《...销俨矿产’企卒
At。mic structure
· An at。m has a de白ned structu昭 the protons and neutrons
a吧cor、fined to a ughtly packed nucleus at the ato毗
臼nire, the elec1ro旧 a吧 res1ric1ed co be,ng locat四”、 a
senes of atomic orbitals - sp旺，自cvolum码。f space
牛4

F。r the lecturer: about this b。。k

Chemical princip les pe rvade much of t he life sciences. Indeed, a bio logica l sci-
entist can on ly effectively probe the many questions su rrounding bio logical sys-
tems th at remain unanswered if they use all the too ls at their disposal. Chem ical
tools are among the most powerfu l available to t he biological scientist; it fo l-
lows that chemica l concepts shou ld form a cent ral part of any biosciences degree
programme.
This book fi ll s th e gap betwee n texts for honours chemistry students (or ’chem is-
try majors') and th e huge range of US-o riginated freshman 'general chemistry' texts.
It is princi pal ly intended for those students wi th no more th an a GCSE in science,
and so assumes ve ry littl e in the way of prior knowledge. For those students who
have stu died chemistry beyond GCSE, however, we hope that it wil l act as a good
refres her, and wi ll fulfil an important goal of showing how chemistry is an integral
part of the stu dy of biology - someth ing perhaps not readi ly apparent from school-
level studies.
It may be that your students need to know chemistry in somewhat more depth
than that offered by this book. In essence, what we have written here is intended
as a 'spri ngboard' into the many excellent undergraduate chem istry texts that are
already avai lable. As such, it o忏ers a bridge to undergraduate-level stu dy, giving an
xxiv l Welcome to Chemistry for the Biosciences

introduction to those essential chemical concepts that life sciences students typically
need to know, with the intention that it will give students the confidence and motiva-
tion to progress to the ’mainstream' chemistry texts if they need to know more.
The book is written in a deliberately conversational style. Its focus is on getting stu-
dents to grasp the essential concepts, not on exhaustive coverage of the field (which
we believe, at this level, can only really lead to rote learning of facts). We cover some
relatively challenging concepts (for example, the notion of sigma and pi orbitals) but
do so in a qualitative way - in the case of sigma and pi orbitals, merely using them to
help provide a conceptual understanding of why molecules have the shape that they
do. Throughout the book, we are writing for the biosciences student, not the chem -
istry lecturer: we want this book to be relevant to biosciences students, so we have
shaped our presentation in a way that we hope will make them think 'Ah, so chemistry
is relevant to me after all, and I cα门 grasp what's going on'.
As is common with any book of this type, we faced a fine balance between sim -
plifying material enough for students to grasp the concepts readily, and simplifying
to the point of inaccuracy. We hope that, on the whole, we’ve got the balance right.
However, writing a book is an ongoing process of refinement; we would be glad to
know where you think we didn ’t get things right, so we can refine them in the future.

You can send us your feedback via the book's Online Resource Centre at
http://www.oxfordtextbooks.eo.uk/orc/crowe3e/.

New to the third edition

We have used the third edition to enhance the text's coverage in a number of ways,
both in terms of content covered, and learning support o忏ered. Alongside numerous
m inor changes throughout each chapter of the text, the primary revisions include the
following.

Content

• A new chapter, Metals in Biology, reviews the importance of metal ions in

biological systems, to complement the coverage of organic compounds in other
chapters.
• Coverage of organic compounds in Chapters 6 and 7 has been streamlined, with
more emphasis on common features and trends.
An enhanced and extended discussion of chemical reactions includes
substantially increased coverage of redox reactions and electrode potentials, to
prepare students for the development of these concepts in biochemistry courses;
and more emphasis on the carbonyl group and nucleophilic attack, and the
reactions of carbonyl-containing compounds.
• The concept of ionization energy is now introduced in Chapter 2.
• The coverage of hydrogen bonding in Chapter 4 is strengthened, to include the
concept of hydrogen bond donors and acceptors.
• Enhanced coverage of resonance theory stresses the impact of the phenomenon
on molecular shape, structure, and reactivity.
• Coverage of enthalpy changes in Chapter 14 now includes more discussion of
enthalpies of formation and Hess's Law.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 Milligrams of Chemical per
Liter of Air,
Chemical Intensity of Odor
Quite Very
Detectable Faint Strong
Noticeable Strong
Amyl acetate 0.039 0.053 0.067 0.478 1.326
Ethyl acetate 0.686 1.224 2.219 4.457 6.733
Amyl alcohol 0.225 0.300 0.442 1.581 2.167
Butyric acid 0.009 0.021 0.066 0.329 0.580
Valeric acid 0.029 0.119 0.523 1.394 4.036
Ethyl ether 5.833 10.167 14.944 17.6667 60.600
Butyl 0.018 0.037 0.055 0.120 0.177
mercaptan
Isobutyl 0.008 0.018 0.025 0.041 0.060
mercaptan
Ethyl 0.046 0.088 0.186 0.357 0.501
mercaptan
Propyl 0.006 0.020 0.028 0.043 0.054
mercaptan
Amyl thioether 0.001 0.007 0.0115 0.012 0.015
Ethyl thioether 0.012 0.042 0.107 0.223 0.271
Allyl 0.008 0.012 0.024 0.030 0.201
isothiocyanate
Methyl 0.015 0.039 0.067 0.108 0.144
isothiocyanate
Amyl 0.012 0.018 0.039 0.072 0.082
isovalerate
Carbon 4.533 9.222 10.024 31.333 38.444
tetrachloride
Chloroform 3.300 6.800 12.733 28.833 46.666
[40]
Iodoform 0.018
Artificial musk 0.00004[41]
Nitrobenzene 0.146 0.178 0.222 0.563 1.493
Phenyl 0.002 0.005 0.013 0.042 0.105
isocyanide
 Milligrams of Chemical per
Liter of Air,
Chemical Intensity of Odor
Quite Very
Detectable Faint Strong
Noticeable Strong
Pyridine 0.032 0.146 0.301 2.265 5.710
Methyl 0.100 0.145 0.179
1.526[42]
salicylate
Oil of 0.024 0.032 0.109 0.332 0.348
peppermint

Touch Method. This method consists of dipping a small glass rod drawn to a needle-
like end to the depth of 1 mm. in the compound and then quickly touching the skin. The
method is qualitative only.

Fig. 119.—Skin Irritant Vapor Apparatus.

Use of Solutions. Alcohol, kerosene, olive oil, carbon tetrachloride and other solvents
may be used for the purpose of determining the lowest effective concentration of a
substance, and for the determination of the relative skin irritant efficiencies of various
compounds. Since the skin irritants were scarcely ever used in this form in the field, that
is, in solution, the method is not as satisfactory as the vapor method.
 CHAPTER XXII
CHEMICAL WARFARE IN RELATION TO
STRATEGY AND TACTICS[43]

Fundamentals of War. The underlying fundamental principles of

Chemical Warfare are the same as for all other arms. Because of
this, it is worth while, and even necessary, to understand the
applications of Chemical Warfare, for us to go back and study the
work of the masters in war from the dawn of history down to the
present. When we do that we find that the underlying fundamental
principles of war remain unchanged. They are the same today as
they were in the time of Demosthenes, and as they will be 10,000
years from now. It is an axiom that the basis of success in war is the
ability to have at the decisive point at the decisive moment a more
effective force than that of the enemy. This involves men and
materials. It involves courage, fighting ability, and the discrimination
and energy of the opposing commanders.
Another fundamental is that no success is achieved without
positive action; passive resistance never wins. These are really
unchanging fundamentals. We may also say that the vigor of attack,
the speed of movement of men and supplies, and the thorough
training of men in the use of the weapons of war are unchanging
requirements, but outside of these everything is subject to the
universal law of change.
Grecian Phalanx and Roman Legion. The last word in the
development of human strength as a battle weapon was illustrated
by the Grecian phalanx with its sixteen rows of men, the spears of
each row being so adjusted that all reached to the front line. That
phalanx could not be stopped by any other human formation that met
it face to face. To overcome it required a Roman legion that could
open up and take the phalanx in the flank and rear. In the same way,
the elephants of the Africans and the chariots of the Romans with
their great swords swept all in front of them, until the Roman Legion,
opening up into smaller groups allowed the elephants and chariots to
pass through only to close in on them from the rear. Then and then
only did those engines of war disappear forever.
Frederick the Great. Frederick the Great, realizing that rapidity
of fire would win on the fields of battle where he fought, trained his
men to a precision of movement in close order probably never
achieved by any other troops in the world and then added to their
efficiency by teaching them to load and fire muskets at double the
rate of that of his adversaries. He was thus enabled to concentrate at
the decisive points a preponderance of power, which swept all his
enemies before him.
Napoleon. Napoleon achieved the same decisive power in a
different way. Realizing that his French troops could not stand the
rigorous training that the Prussians underwent, he trained them to
fight with great enthusiasm, to travel long distances with unheard of
swiftness, and to strike the enemy where least expected. He added
to that a concentration of artillery until then not thought of as possible
on the field of battle. He, of course, had also a genius for organizing
and keeping up his supply.
Grant and Jackson. Grant at Vicksburg and Stonewall Jackson
in the Shenandoah Valley and at Chancellorsville, achieved the
same results in different ways. In every case the fundamental
principle of concentrating the greatest force at the decisive point at
the vital moment in the battle remained the same. The methods for
achieving that end change with every age, and every commander of
world-wide renown developed something new or used an old method
in a new way. And that is the fundamental requirement for a
successful general. Hannibal, Hasdrubal, Cæsar, Napoleon,
Frederick the Great, Scott, Grant, and Jackson were all independent
thinkers. Each and every one dared to do something that every other
general and statesman of his time told him could not be done or that
would bring about disaster. They had the courage of their
convictions. They had the courage to think out new ideas and to
develop them, and then they had the courage to carry through those
convictions, not alone against the opposition of the enemy, but
against the opposition of their own people, both in the field and at
home. And we may be perfectly sure that in each case had these
men not done the things they did, they would have gone down to
oblivion just as has been the case with millions of others who tried
the usual methods in the usual way.
Chemical Warfare Latest Development. Chemical Warfare is
the latest development of war. So far as the United States is
concerned, it is considerably less than four years old. It is the most
scientific of all methods of fighting and also the most universally
applicable to all other methods of making war. The use of poisonous
and irritating gases in war is just as fundamental as the introduction
of gunpowder. In fact, they have an even wider application to war
than powder itself.
Necessity for New Methods. The idea that has been expressed
above is that the General Staff and the Army commander who sticks
to old and tried methods and who is unwilling to try with all his might
new developments, will never achieve any first class success. The
General Staffs and the generals of the future that win wars will be
the ones who make the most vigorous and efficient use of Chemical
Warfare materials. They cannot confine this use to the artillery, to
Aviation, to Special Gas Troops, or to any other single branch of the
war machine. They must make use of it in every way.
What Is Meant by Gas. It must be understood that by gases we
refer to materials that injure by being carried to the victim in the air.
The word “gas” has nothing whatever to do with the condition of the
material when in the shell, or the bombs, or the cylinders before
released. In every case, the gases are liquids or solids. When the
containers are broken open the liquids are volatilized either by the
gas pressure or by the force of the explosion of the bomb.
Groups of Gases. Chemical Warfare gases are divided into
three great groups. So far as their actual tactical use on the field of
battle is concerned, there are only two groups—persistent and non-
persistent. The third is the irritant group. This group affects the eyes
and the lungs so as to make the victim very uncomfortable if not
completely incapable of action in quantities so small as to cause no
injury that lasts more than a few hours. The quantities of such gases
needed to force the wearing of the mask is ¹/₁₀₀₀ that needed to
cause the same discomfort by the really poisonous gases, such as
phosgene. They, therefore, have a very great economic value in
harassing the enemy by forcing him to wear masks and to take other
precautions against gas. And no matter how perfect gas masks and
gas-proof clothing become, their long-continued use will cut down
physical vigor in an ever increasing ratio until in two or three days an
army may be totally incapacitated.
Smoke. In Chemical Warfare materials we have another great
group which will probably be equal in the future to the three groups
just mentioned. That is common smoke. Smoke has a variety of
uses. By the simple term “smoke” is meant smokes that are not
poisonous or irritating. Such smokes offer a perfect screen against
enemy vision, whether it is the man who sights the machine gun, the
observer in the lookout station, the cannoneer or even the aeroplane
observer. Every shot through impenetrable smoke is a shot in the
dark and has a tenth or even less chance of hitting its mark. Smoke
affords a means of decreasing the accuracy of firing, much the same
as night decreases it, without the inherent difficulties of night action.
Peace Strategy. The strategy of successful war involves the
strategy of peace. This has been true from the days when David with
his sling-shot slew Goliath, down to the present moment. We don’t
always think of it in connection with war, but back of every successful
war has been preparation during peace. It may have been incidental
preparation such as the training of men in fighting Indians, and in
creating public sentiment favorable to an independent nation that
preceded the Revolutionary War. It may, on the other hand, have
been a deeply studied policy such as that of the Germans prior to the
World War. They tried and generally quite successfully, to coördinate
all peace activities toward the day when a war should come that
would decide the future destiny of the German Empire, and it was
only because of that study in peace that Germany almost single-
handed was able to stand out for more than four years against the
world. The Allies came near losing that war because they did not
appreciate that the strategy of efficient war had to be preceded by
the strategy of peace.
Chemical Warfare an Example. Chemical warfare is a
particularly good example of this fact. Prior to the World War we had
acknowledged, and without any misgivings, that Germany led the
world in chemistry, that it produced most of the dyes in the world,
and to a large extent the medicines of the world. We felt that when
American needs showed it to be advisable we could take up
chemistry and chemical production and soon excel the Germans. We
had not reckoned on the suddenness of war.
We were just getting ready with chemicals, and that included
powders and high explosives, when the war closed. And yet we had
had not only eighteen months’ intensive preparation after our own
entry into the World War, but also the preparation of great steel
institutions and powder factories for nearly three years in
manufacturing supplies for the Allies who preceded us in the war.
Coal Tar. The World War opened the eyes of England, France
and Japan as well as the United States. Each of them today is
struggling to build up a great chemical industry as the very
foundation of successful war. Few of us realized prior to the World
War that in the black, sticky mess called coal tar from the coking of
coal or the manufacture of gas from coal and oil, was stored up most
of the high explosives used in war, the majority of the poison gases,
a great deal of the medicines of the world, and nearly all the dyes of
the world. The Germans realized it and in their control over methods
of using this material, together with the great commercial plants
developed to manufacture it, as well as with the trained personnel
that must go with such plants, were enabled, when blockaded on
land and sea, to furnish the munitions, the clothing and the food
needed for four and one-half years of war.
Great Chemical Industries. Thus it is that our Government
today is giving most serious heed to the need of building up a great
chemical industry in the United States. We have the raw materials.
We need only the factories and the trained men that go with them.
We need, of course, in addition to the development of the coal tar
industry, a production of heavy chemicals such as chlorine, sulfuric
acid and the like, all of which, however, are bound together by
community interest in peace as well as in war.
Reserves of Chemists. A part of the strategy of peace is the
card-indexing of the manpower of a nation divided into special
groups. In one great group must come those who have a knowledge
of chemistry and the chemical industries. That must be so worked
out that if war should come on a moment’s notice, within twenty-four
hours thereafter every chemist could be given his job, jobs extending
from the firing line to the research laboratory. And that is the task of
the Chemical Warfare Service. And right here it is well to know that
Congress, among the other features of its Army Reorganization Act
of June 4, 1920, provided for a separate Chemical Warfare Service
with these powers:

Chemical Warfare Powers

The Chief of the Chemical Warfare Service
under the authority of the Secretary of War shall be
charged with the investigation, development,
manufacture, or procurement and supply to the
Army of all smoke and incendiary materials, all toxic
gases, and all gas defense appliances; the
research, design, and experimentation connected
with chemical warfare and its material; and chemical
projectile filling plants and proving grounds; the
supervision of the training of the Army in chemical
warfare, both offensive and defensive, including the
necessary schools of instruction; the organization,
equipment, training, and operation of special gas
troops, and such other duties as the President may
from time to time prescribe.
Why Power Is Needed. These rather broad powers indicate that
Congress realized the unity of effort that must be made from the
research laboratory to the firing line if America was to keep pace with
Germany or any other nation in chemical warfare. Some have raised
the question as to whether a service should be both supply and
combat. Perhaps the best answer to that question is that so
organized Chemical Warfare was a success in the World War. It was
a success notwithstanding it had to be developed in the field six
months after our entry into the war and with no precedents, no
materials, no literature and no personnel. Through its officers on the
staffs of commanding generals of armies, corps and divisions, and
through its fighting gas troops in the front line, it was enabled to
direct its research, development and manufacture more quickly
along lines shown to be necessary by every change in battle
conditions, than any other service.
Chemical Warfare Troops. And why should there not be fighting
Chemical Warfare troops? They fight under exactly the same orders
as all other troops. They conform to the same general plan of battle.
They bring, however, to that battle experts in a line that it takes a
long time to master. And where has there been any live commander
in the world’s history who refused aid from any class of troops that
might help him win?
Specialists in War. The wars of the future will become more and
more wars of the specialists. Your Infantry may remain the backbone
of the fighting force, but if it has not the Artillery, the Aviation, the
Chemical Warfare, the Engineers, the tanks and other specialists to
back it up, it will be overcome by the army which has such
specialists. Indeed the specialist goes into the very organization of
the Infantry itself with its machine gun battalions, its tank battalions,
and as now proposed, the Infantry light howitzer companies.
Duties of Chemical Warfare Staff Officers. The Chemical
Warfare officers on the staff of armies, corps and divisions are there
for the purpose of giving expert advice as to the quantities of
chemical materials available, the best conditions for using them, and
the best way of avoiding the effects of enemy gas upon our own
troops. The conditions that must be kept in mind are so many that no
other officer can be expected to master and keep them if he does his
own work well. The general staff officers and commanding generals
will not have the time to even try to remember the actual effects of
clouds, wind, rain, trees, valleys, villages and plains upon each and
every gas. They must depend upon the Chemical Warfare officer for
accurate information along those lines, and if he cannot furnish it
they will have to secure some one who can. The history of war is
filled with the names of generals who failed because they could not
forget how to command a company. These Chemical Warfare
officers will also furnish all data as to supply of chemical warfare
materials, and will furnish the best information along lines of training,
whether for defensive or offensive use of gas.
Gas Used by all Arms. As before stated, we cannot confine the
use of gas to any one arm. We may then ask why, if it is applicable to
all arms, it should need special gas troops. Special gas troops are
for the purpose of putting off great quantities of chemical warfare
materials by special methods that are not applicable to any other
branch now organized or that any other branch has the time to
master. Long-range firing of gas by the artillery can be done just as
well by the artillery as by gas troops. Why? Because in the
mechanics of firing chemical ammunition there is no difference
whatever from the mechanics of firing high explosives or shrapnel.
The same will be true of gas rifle grenades and smoke candles in
use by the Infantry. The same will be true of the dropping of gas
bombs and the sprinkling of gas by the aeroplanes. In this
connection just remember that all of the army is trained in first aid,
but in addition we have our ambulance companies, our hospitals,
and our trained medical personnel.
Arguments Against Use of Gas. It has been many times
suggested since the Armistice that the use of poisonous gas in war
may be done away with by agreement among nations. The
arguments against the use of gas are that it is inhumane and that it
might be used against non-combatants, especially women and
children. The inhumanity of it is absolutely disproven by the results of
its use in the World War. The death rate from gas alone was less
than one-twelfth that from bullets, high explosives and other methods
of warfare. The disability rate for gas patients discharged was only
about one-fourth that for the wounded discharged for other causes.
The permanently injured is likewise apparently very much less than
from other causes.
 Humanity. No reliable statistics that we can get show that gas in
any way causes tuberculosis any more than a severe attack of
bronchitis or pneumonia causes tuberculosis. Since its principal
effects are upon the lungs and, therefore, hidden from sight, every
impostor is beginning to claim gassing as the reason for his wanting
War Risk benefits from the Government. We do not claim there may
not be some who are suffering permanent injuries from gas, and we
are trying very hard to find out from the manufacturers of poisonous
gases and allied chemicals if they have any authentic records of
such cases. So far the results indicate that permanent after-effects
are very rare.
As to non-combatants, certainly we do not contemplate using
poisonous gas against them, no more at least than we propose to
use high explosives in long-range guns or aeroplanes against them.
The use of the one against non-combatants is just as damnable as
the other and it is just as easy to refrain from using one as the other.
Gas Cannot be Abolished. As to the abandonment of poison
gas, it must be remembered that no powerful weapon of war has
ever been abandoned once it proved its power unless a more
powerful weapon was discovered. Poisonous gas in the World War
proved to be one of the most powerful of all weapons of war. For that
reason alone it will never be abandoned. It cannot be stopped by
agreement, because if you can stop the use of any one powerful
weapon of war by agreement you can stop all war by agreement. To
prepare to use it only in case it is used against you is on the same
plane as an order that was once upon a time issued to troops in the
Philippine Islands. That order stated in substance that no officer or
soldier should shoot a savage Moro, even were he approaching the
said officer or soldier with drawn kriss (sword), unless actually first
struck by such savage. Every officer preferred, if necessary, to face a
court-martial for disobedience of such an order rather than allow a
savage Moro with a drawn kriss to get anywhere near, let alone wait
until actually struck.
Let the world know that we propose to use gas against all troops
that may be engaged against us, and that we propose to use it to the
fullest extent of our ability. We believe that such a proposition will do
more to head off war than all the peace propaganda since time
began. It has been said that we should not use gas against those not
equipped with gas. Then why did we use repeating rifles and
machine guns against Negritos and Moros armed only with bows
and arrows or poor muskets and knives. Let us apply the same
common sense to the use of gas that we apply to all other weapons
of war.
Effect on World War Tactics. A very brief study of the effects of
chemical warfare materials on the strategy of the World War will
indicate its future. It began with clouds of chlorine let loose from
heavy cylinders buried under the firing trench. These took a long
time to install and then a wait, sometimes long, sometimes brief, for
a favorable wind, but even at that these cloud gas attacks created a
new method of fighting and forced new methods of protection. Gas
at once added a tremendous burden to supply in the field, to
manufacture, and to transportation, and in a short time even made
some decided changes in the tactics of the battle field itself.
Cloud Gas. The fact that the gas cloud looked like smoke is
responsible for the name “cloud gas.” Really all gases are nearly or
wholly invisible, but those which volatilize suddenly from the liquid
state so cool the air as to cause clouds of condensed water vapor.
The cloud obscured everything behind and in front of it. It led the
German to put off fake smoke clouds and attack through them, thus
taking the British at a tremendous disadvantage. Then and there
began a realization of the value of smoke. Cloud gas was also the
real cause of the highly organized raid that became common in
every army during the World War. The real purpose in the first raids,
carried out by means of the box barrage, was to find out whether or
not gas cylinders were being installed in trenches.
These raids finally became responsible, in a large measure, for
driving the old cloud gas off the field of battle. It did not, however,
stop the British from putting off cloud gas attacks in 1918 by
installing their gas cylinders on their light railway cars and then
letting the gas loose from the cylinders while still on the cars. This
enabled them to move their materials to the front and put off gas
attacks on a few hours’ notice when the wind was right.
 Toxic Smoke Candles. To-day we have poisonous smokes that
exist in solid form and that are perfectly safe to handle until a fuse is
lighted. The so-called candles will be light enough so that one man
can carry them. With these, cloud gas can be put off on an hour’s
notice when wind and weather conditions are right, no matter how
fast the army may be moving and whether on the advance or in
retreat. Cloud gas will usually be put off at night because the cloud
cannot be seen, because then men are tired and sleepy, and all but
the most highly trained become panicky. Under those conditions the
greatest casualties result. The steadiness of wind currents also aids
cloud gas attacks at night.
Value of Training in Peace. And this brings up the value of
training in peace. We are frequently asked, “Why do you need
training with masks in peace; why do you need training with actual
gas in peace; cannot these things be taught on short notice in war?”
The answer is, “No!” Nothing will take the place of training in peace.
All of us recall that early in the war the Germans spread
broadcast charges that the Allies were using unfair and inhumane
methods of fighting because they brought the Ghurka with his terrible
knife from Asia and the Moroccan from Africa. And we all know that
after a time the Germans ceased saying anything about these
troops. What was the cause? They were not efficient. Just as the
Negro will follow a white officer over the top in daylight and fight with
as much energy and courage and many times as much efficiency as
the white man, he cannot stand the terrors of the night, and the
same was true of the Ghurka and the Moroccan.
All the Allies soon recognized that fact as shown by their drawing
those troops almost entirely away from the fighting lines. In some
cases dark-skinned troops were kept only as shock troops to be
replaced by the more highly developed Caucasian when the line had
to be held for days under the deadly fire of the counter attack. The
German idea, and our own idea prior to the World War, was that
semi-savages could stand the rigors and terrors of war better than
the highly sensitive white man. War proved that to be utterly false.
 Familiarity with Gas Necessary. The same training that makes
for advancement in science, and success in manufacture in peace,
gives the control of the body that holds the white man to the firing
line no matter what its terrors. A great deal of this comes because
the white man has had trained out of him nearly all superstition. He
has had drilled into him for hundreds of years that powder and high
explosive can do certain things and no more. If the soldier is not to
be afraid of gas we must give him an equal knowledge of it, its
dangers, and its limitations. The old adage says, “Familiarity breeds
contempt.” Perhaps that is not quite true, but we all know that it
breeds callousness and forgetfulness; that the man manufacturing
dynamite or other more dangerous explosives takes chances that we
who do not engage in such manufacture shudder at.
Edgewood Chemists Not Afraid. All of this has direct
application to training with chemical warfare materials in peace. We
believe that all opposition to chemical warfare today can be divided
into two classes—those who do not understand it and those who are
afraid of it—ignorance and cowardice. Our chemists at Edgewood
Arsenal are every day toying with the most powerful chemical
compounds; toying with mixtures they know nothing of, not knowing
what instant they may induce an explosion of some fearful poisonous
gas. But they have learned how to protect themselves. They have
learned that if they stop breathing and get out of that place and on
the windward side they are safe. They have been at that work long
enough to do that automatically.
Staff Officers Must Think of Gas in Every Problem. The staff
officer must train the army man in peace with all chemical warfare
materials or he will lose his head in war and become a casualty. The
general staff officers and commanding generals must so familiarize
themselves with these gases and their general use that they will
think them in all their problems just exactly as they think of the
Infantry, or of the Cavalry, or of the tanks or of the Artillery in every
problem. On them rests the responsibility that these gases are used
properly in battle. If plans before the battle do not include these
materials for every arm and in the proper quantities of the proper
kinds they will not be used properly on the field of battle and on them
will rest the responsibility.
They are not expected to know all the details of gases and their
uses, but they will be expected to consider the use of gas in every
phase of preparing plans and orders and then to appeal to the
chemical warfare officers for the details that will enable them to use
the proper gases and the proper quantities. They cannot go into
those details any more than they can go into the details of each
company of infantry. If they try to do that they are a failure as staff
officers.
Effect of Masks on Troops. The very best of masks cause a
little decrease in vision, a little increase in breathing resistance, and
a little added discomfort in warm weather, and hence the soldier
must learn to use them under all conditions. But above all in the
future he must be so accustomed to the use of the mask that he will
put it on automatically—almost in his sleep as it were. We have tear
gases, today, so powerful and so sudden in their action that it is
doubtful if one man out of five who has had only a little training can
get his mask on if subject to the tear gas alone—that is, with tear gas
striking him with full force before he is aware of it.
Effectiveness of Gas in World War. In the past war more than
27 out of every 100 Americans killed and wounded suffered from gas
alone. You may say that many of the wounds were light. That is true;
but those men were put out of the battle line for from one to four
months—divisions, corps and armies almost broken up—and yet the
use of gas in that war was a child’s game compared to what it will be
in the future.
It is even said that many of them were malingerers. Perhaps they
were, but do you not suppose that there were at least as many
malingerers among the enemy as there were in our own ranks?
Furthermore, if you can induce malingering it is a proper method of
waging war, and unless our boasted ability is all a myth we should
have fewer malingerers under conditions of battle than any other
nation.
 Strategy of Gas at Picardy Plains. Let us go back now to the
strategy of gas in war. Following the cloud gas came tear gases and
poisonous gases in shells and bombs. A little advance in tactics here
and a little there, the idea, though, in the early days being only to
produce casualties. As usual the Germans awoke first to the fact that
gas might be used strategically and on a large scale. And thus we
find that ten days before he began the battle of Picardy Plains he
deluged many sections of the front with mustard gas. He secured
casualties by the thousands, but he secured something of greater
importance. He wore out the physical vigor and lowered the morale
of division after division, thus paving the way for the break in the
British Army which almost let him through to the sea.
He used non-persistent gases up to the very moment when his
own men reached the British lines, thereby reducing the efficiency of
British rifle and artillery fire and saving his own men. And this is just
a guide to the future. A recent writer in the Field Artillery Journal
states that gas will probably not be used in the barrage because of
its probable interference with the movement of our own troops. In
making that statement he forgot the enemy and you cannot do that if
you expect to win a war.
Gas in Barrages. In the future we must expect the enemy to be
in a measure as well prepared in chemical warfare as we are. Let us
consider the special case of our own men advancing to the attack
behind a rolling barrage. We will consider also that the wind is
blowing toward our own troops. Obviously under those conditions the
wind will blow our own gas back onto our troops. Will we use gas in
that barrage? We certainly will! Because with the wind blowing
toward our own troops we have the exact ideal condition that the
enemy wants for his use of gas. He will then be deluging our
advancing troops with all the gas he can fire, in addition to high
explosives and shrapnel. Our men must wear masks and take every
precaution against enemy gas. How foolish it would be not to fire gas
at the enemy under those conditions. If we did not fire gas we would
leave him entirely free from wearing masks, and entirely free from
taking every other precaution against gas while our own troops were
subject to all the difficulties of gas. No, we will fire gas at him in just
as great quantities as we consider efficient. And that is just a sample
of what is coming on every field of battle—gas used on both sides by
every method of putting it over that can be devised.
World War Lessons Only Guide Posts. Example of Book
Worms. Every lesson taught by the World War must be taken as a
guide-post on the road to future success in war. No use of gas or
other materials in the past war must be taken as an exact pattern for
use in any battle of the future. Too much study, too much attention to
the past, may cause that very thing to happen. A certain general
commanding a brigade in the Argonne told me just recently that
while the battle was going on a general staff officer called him on the
telephone and asked him what the situation was. He gave it to him.
The staff officer then asked, “What are you doing?” and he told him.
The staff officer replied, “Why, the book doesn’t say to do it that way
under such conditions.” There you have the absurd side of too much
study and too close reliance on details of the past.
The battle field is a perfect kaleidoscope. The best we can hope
to get out of books is a guide—something that we will keep in our
minds to help us decide the best way to meet certain situations. He
who tries to remember a particular position taught in his school with
the idea of applying that to actual use in battle is laying the
foundation for absolute failure. Your expert rifleman never thinks
back when he goes to fire a shot as to just what his instructor told
him or what the book said. He just concentrates his mind on the
object to be attained, using so far as comes to him facts he has
learned from books or teachers. Your general and your staff must do
the same.
Infantry Use of Gas. A few words about how we will use gas in
the future. We will start with the Infantry. The Infantry as such will
use gas in only two or three ways. They will use some gas in rifle
grenades, and a great deal more smoke. We speak of the rifle
grenade because in our opinion the hand grenade is a thing of the
past. We do not believe there will ever be used in the future any
grenade that is not applicable to the rifle. The Infantry will probably
often carry large quantities of gas in the shape of the toxic smoke
candle. These materials being solids may be shot up by rifles or
artillery fire, run over by trucks or tractors, or trampled and still be
harmless. It is only when the fuses are lighted and the material
driven off by heat that they are dangerous. In using these candles
under these conditions you must have sufficient chemical warfare
officers and soldiers to get the necessary control indicated by the
sun, wind, woods, fogs, ravines and the like.
Cavalry Use of Gas. Next consider the Cavalry. The Cavalry will
use gas practically the same as the Infantry. The chemical warfare
troops will accompany the Cavalry with Stokes’ mortars or other
materials to fire gases into small enemy strongholds that may be
encountered whether machine gun nests, mountain tops, woods or
villages. They will do this either against savages or civilized people.
Methods of making these materials mobile for that purpose are
already well under way. If against savages and one does not want to
kill them, use tear gases—no better method of searching out hidden
snipers in mountain tops, among rocks, or villages, in ravines, or in
forests was ever invented.
Use of Gas by Tanks. The tanks will employ gas in the same
way as the Infantry with the possibility, however, that they may be
used to carry large quantities of gas on caterpillar tractors where
otherwise it would be difficult to move the gas. This is not a certainty,
but is a situation promising enough to warrant further study.
Artillery Use of Gas. Your Artillery will fire gas and smoke in
every caliber of gun. There is a tendency now to limit gas to certain
guns and howitzers and to limit smoke to even a smaller number of
guns. This is a mistake that we are going to recognize. A very careful
study of the records of the war show that more casualties were
produced several times over by a thousand gas shells than by a
thousand high explosive or shrapnel. And that is because gas has an
inherent permanence that no other weapon of war has.
Permanency of Gas. The bullet whistles through the air and
does its work or misses. The high explosive shell bursts, hurling its
fragments that in a few seconds settle to earth, and its work is done.
The shrapnel acts in the same way, but when one turns loose a shell
of gas it will kill and injure the same as the high explosive shell and
in the same length of time and in addition for some minutes
thereafter. Even with the non-persistent gases, it will continue on its
way, causing death or injury to every unprotected animal, man or
beast in its path. With the persistent gases, the materials from each
shell may persist for days.
Variety of Uses of Gas. This brings up the point of the great
variety of uses to which gas can be put. The non-persistent gas may
be used at all times where one wants to get rid of it in a few
moments—the persistent gas wherever one wants to keep the
enemy under gas for days at a time. We will use mustard gas on
strong points in the advance, on flanks, on distant areas one will not
expect to be reached, and as our own protection of masks and
clothing increases toward perfection we will use it on the very fields
you expect to cross. Why? Because we will be firing it at the enemy
for days before hand and we will cause him trouble all those days
while we ourselves will encounter it for a few hours at the most. So
do not think that mustard gas is only going to be used in defense in
the future.
Solid Mustard Gas and Long-Range Guns. We will come to
use chemical warfare materials just as high explosives and bullets
are used today, even though at times we do suffer an occasional
loss from our own weapons. Our Artillery in long-range guns where
we want destruction will fill each shell with say 15 per cent gas and
85 per cent high explosive. We have a solid mustard gas that may
be so used. We have tremendously powerful tear gases and irritating
gases that may be so used. Being solids they do not affect the
ballistic qualities of the shell. And what an added danger will mustard
gas from every shell bring against railroad centers, rest villages,
cantonments, cross-roads and the like. The results will be too great
for any force to overlook such use.
Tear Gases in Shrapnel. We will probably use tear gas in most,
if not all, of our shrapnel. The general idea now is that we should not
put tear gas in all shrapnel because under certain conditions it will be
blown back and harass our own troops. But as was said before, we
must remember that the enemy will be using gas at all times as well
as ourselves, and hence if we limit ourselves in any line we give the
enemy an advantage. This use of gas by the Artillery will extend to
all classes of guns—seacoast, field, turret and what not.
Use of Gas by Air Service. Bombs. Let us next consider the Air
Service. We naturally think of dropping gas in bombs when we speak
of the use of gas by the Air Service. Gas will so be used and it will be
used in bombs of perhaps a thousand pounds or even a ton in
weight, at least 50 per cent of which will be gas. Such gases,
however, will be of the non-persistent type—phosgene or similar
ones. They will be used against concentration camps and cross-
roads, on troops on the road in columns; against railroad centers and
rest areas; in other words, against groups of men or animals.
Sprinkling. But that is not even the beginning of the use of gas by
aeroplanes. Mustard gas, which is one-third again as heavy as
water, and which volatilizes far slower than water, may be sprinkled
through a small opening such as a bung hole in a tank that simply
lets liquid float out. The speed of the aeroplane will atomize it. In this
way, gas can be sprinkled over whole areas that must be crossed in
battle. The Lewisite, of which we have heard considerable, will be
used. It is less persistent than the mustard gas, but like mustard gas
it produces casualties by burning. Unlike mustard gas, however, the
burns from a quantity equal to three drops will usually cause death.
The material can be made up by hundreds, even thousands, of tons
per month.
We are working on clothing that will keep it out just as we have
been and are working on clothing that will protect against mustard
gas. But these gases are so powerful that if any opening be left in
the clothing the gas will get through, so that even if we get clothing
that will protect, it must cover every inch of the skin from head to
foot. Besides the mask must be worn at all times.
Consider the burden put on any army in the field that would have
to continually wear such complete protection. What a strain on the
mentality of the men! As before said, to endure it at all we must train
our men to think of such conditions, to face them in peace, and in
order to do so we must actually use gas. Just as in the World War
the highly trained Caucasian outdistanced the savage in endurance,