Introduction to Chemistry - E-book - ePub

Chemistry studies the nature (atomic and molecular structure, etc.), properties, composition and transformations of matter. Here are some benefits that chemistry can provide: ? fabrics of the clothes we use in day-to-day are materialsobtained through the development of Chemistry; the artificial fibers (nylon, tergal, etc.), synthetic rubbers, plastics, part of a group of materials called polymers;polymers have been numerous applications: plastic bags, towels, bottles, plastic pipes, electrical coatings, toys, records, upholstery, pan coatings; Biochemistry has allowed not only to know precise mechanismsof the body, such as influence them, enabling the developmentof molecular biology and pharmacology, fundamental to theprogress of medicine.
And in the area of Food Engineering, forexample, is that chemistry plays a significant role? Yes. It isvital! For example, the food industry uses the so-called "additives":substances are capable of providing the following foods: -antioxidant (inhibits the oxidation process); - Preservatives(increase durability); - Stabilizers (helps keep emulsions andsuspensions); - Sweeteners (transmits sweet taste to products), etc.
Most countries have four types of artificial sweetenersfound in the consumer market: - saccharin (Pan American) -the CYCLAMATE (Brasfanta) - the ACESULFAME-K (Hoechst)- aspartame (Monsanto). Obtaining these sweeteners requireswell-established synthetic routes developed in research in thefield of chemistry. To understand the metabolism of sweetenersin humans and investigate the toxicity mechanisms have beenproposed that involve a series of chemical reactions (w /details, see ref.
*). As can be seen, chemistry has providednumerous benefits to humanity. On the other hand, we cannot forget that many chemical processes are responsible for thedegradation of the environment in which we live.