Introductory Biochemistry is a text supporting a single-term biochemistry course as part of a one-year Introductory Chemistry course series often described as General, Organic and Biological Chemistry (GOB). The audience for this book includes students majoring in fields outside of the Sciences who need or want some knowledge of biochemistry. This includes students in pre-health fields, but also possibly students interested in Natural Resources, Agriculture or Business. The objective is to provide these students with an exposure to core ideas of the subject.
The text is a modified copy of Biochemistry Free for All, written and shared as an open educational resource by Dr. Kevin Ahern, Dr. Indira Rajagopal, and Taryln Tan at Oregon State University, Corvallis. The original audience for Ahern et al included students arriving to class with a more thorough background in both General and Organic Chemistry than GOB students. The original contains more information, more detail and remains openly available through Libretexts.
This book is likely to undergo additional modification in the future, including significant rewriting, and added support for concepts in biochemistry that draw from other subdisciplines of chemistry.
Additionally, while some interactive features have been removed in modifying the Ahern text, others have been made possible in this PressBooks format. Among those is the use of social annotation, which can be handled through hypothes.is, a free app that encourages reflective reading, questioning and social engagement around the text.
I have deep gratitude to Drs. Ahern and Rajagopal for production and dissemination of Biochemistry Free for All, and to the students who also contributed to the contents of their book. Writing a text and providing useful graphics is an enormous amount of work. It is very generous for them to complete that ambitious project and then share their work so freely.
More information on the original text and information on authors can be found at:
https://biochem.oregonstate.edu/content/biochemistry-free-and-easy
Dr. Kevin Ahern and Dr. Indira Rajagopal, Taralyn Tan
Contributors to chapters, students at Oregon State University at the time of contribution:
Martha Baker, Pehr Jacobson, Aleia Kim, Penelope Irving
