Chemistry in Everyday Life

• Chemistry is involved with everyday life

Introduction to Chemistry in Everyday Life

• Life, the atmosphere, Earth, and the universe have evolved over billions of years with ongoing chemical changes.
• Natural phenomena involve intricate chemistry, including weathering, lightning, volcanoes, photosynthesis, ripening, fermentation, and floral fragrances.
• Chemistry is integral to life processes within and across the body.
• Human civilization has historically utilized plant, animal, and mineral products.
• Modern science has revealed the chemical structures of natural materials.
• Advances in synthetic organic chemistry have revolutionized materials, impacting everything from food to shelter.
• Food, medicinal, and cleansing material chemistry is essential and composed of structurally simple elements.

Basics of Food Chemistry

• Food nutrients provide energy and regulate growth, maintenance, and the repair of body tissues.
• Key nutrients include carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and water.
• Grains, fruits, and vegetables supply carbohydrates and vitamins.
• Fish, eggs, dairy, and pulses supply proteins and vitamins.
• Lipids come from vegetable oils, dairy, and animal fats.
• Most nutrients are organic macromolecules.
• Proteins and carbohydrates are polymeric materials, breaking down into amino acids and glucose during digestion.
• Cooking aids digestion by hydrolyzing high polymers into smaller polymers.

Food Quality Chemistry

• Food quality includes flavour, smell, texture, colour, and microbial spoilage.
• Enzymes are naturally present in foods.
• Food quality changes due to enzyme and microorganism activity during shelving.
• Setting milk into curd and bread-making involves microorganisms.
• Food preservation and processing prevent unwanted changes.

Browning and Rancidity

• Cut fruits and vegetables like bananas, apples, potatoes, and bottle gourds turn brown due to oxidation.
• Cutting releases chemicals, and polyphenols oxidize in the air, catalyzed by enzymes, to form quinones.
• Oils and fats develop unpleasant smells and tastes over time.
• Fats can rapidly hydrolyze with microorganisms or enzymes present .
• Oxidation is a primary cause of rancidity in oils and fats.
• Vegetable oils with C=C double bonds are mono or poly unsaturated fats.
• Oxidative rancidity leads to unpleasant tastes.

Saturated, Unsaturated and Trans Fats

• Animal fats contain saturated fatty acids.
• Saturated fatty acid carbon chains pack closely together.
• Strong van der Waals forces result in saturated fats being solid at room temperature.
• Unsaturated fats have C=C double bonds, causing kinks that prevent close packing.
• Unsaturated chains have weak van der Waals forces.
• Unsaturated fats have lower melting points.
• Cis forms are common in unsaturated fats.
• Trans fats occur in animal fats and are difficult to metabolize.
• Lipoproteins transport cholesterol in the body.
• Excessive low density lipoprotein (LDL) causes cholesterol deposition, increasing cardiovascular disease risk.

Omega-3 and Antioxidants

• Omega-3 and Omega-6 are unsaturated fats.
• Omega indicates the last carbon atom; Omega-3 acids have a C=C bond between the third and fourth carbons from the end.
• Omega-3 raises high-density lipoprotein (HDL), which is beneficial cholesterol.
• Omega-6 is linked to a higher risk of high blood pressure.
• Antioxidants slow down the oxidation of food.
• Antioxidants react with oxygen-containing free radicals to prevent oxidative rancidity.
• Vitamin E (Tocopherol) is a natural antioxidant in edible oils.
• Synthetic antioxidants are used for economic reasons.

Analgesics, Antipyretics, and Antimicrobials

• Analgesics relieve pain.
• Half of analgesics are anti-inflammatory.
• Analgesics reduce fever.
• Antimicrobials inhibit or kill microbial cells including bacteria, fungi, and viruses.
• Disinfectants are non-selective antimicrobials used on non-living surfaces.
• Antiseptics sterilize living tissue.
• Antibiotics target bacterial infections and can be used internally or externally.
• Inorganic antiseptics include iodine and boric acid.
• Organic antiseptics include iodoforms and some phenols.

Antiseptics and Antibiotics

• Tincture of iodine and iodoform are effective antiseptics for wounds.
• Diluted boric acid is a weak antiseptic for eyes.
• Trichlorophenol (TCP) and chloroxylenol are common antiseptic phenols.
• Dettol contains trichlorophenol as an active ingredient, and isopropyl alcohol.
• Thymol, from thyme oil, is a non-toxic disinfectant.
• P-chlorobenzyl phenol is used in all-purpose cleaners.
• Antibiotics are from microorganisms or are purely synthetic.
• Paul Ehrlich discovered salvarsan and prontosil (an azo dye).

Cleansing Agents

• Cleansing agents remove stains, dirt, and clutter.
• Types include soaps and synthetic detergents.
• Soaps consist of sodium and potassium salts of long-chain fatty acids.
• Potassium soaps are soft on the skin.
• Laundry soaps have fillers like sodium rosinate, sodium silicate, borax, and sodium triphosphate.
• Anionic detergents are sodium salts of long-chain alkyl sulphuric acids or benzene sulphonic acids.
• Cationic detergents are quaternary ammonium salts with a long alkyl chain.
• Nonionic detergents are polyethylene glycol ethers with alkyl phenol or esters of polyethylene glycol with long-chain fatty acids.