The impact of theoretical chemistry on biology

Authors

  • Modesto Orozco Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Barcelona/Joint Institute of Biomedical Research - Barcelona Supercomputing Center (IRB-BSC), Research Program on Computational Biology, Barcelona Science Park
  • F. Javier Luque Departament of Physical Chemistry and Institute of Biomedicine (IBUB), Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Barcelona

Abstract

Summary. Recent advances in theoretical formalism together
with the dramatic development of computer infrastructure have
allowed enormous progress in achieving the dream of the
founders of chemistry: to submit the majority of chemical phenomena to calculation. Currently, theoretical chemistry is working towards reaching the next step: to become the ultimate tool to understand the chemical nature of living organisms. This review summarizes how techniques originally developed to represent small molecules in the gas phase have evolved such
that they are able to describe the complex behaviors of biological
systems.

Author Biography

Modesto Orozco, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Barcelona/Joint Institute of Biomedical Research - Barcelona Supercomputing Center (IRB-BSC), Research Program on Computational Biology, Barcelona Science Park

National Institute of Bioinformatics, Barcelona Science Park, Barcelona

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Issue

Vol. 6 No. 2 (2010): International Year of Chemistry: Special Issue / Salvador Alegret, Guest Editor

Section

Research reviews

License

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Commercial— No Derivative Works 3.0 Creative Commons License, the full text of which can be consulted at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/. You are free to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work provided that the author is credited and reuse of the material is restricted to non-commercial purposes only and that no derivative works are created from the original material.