CHEM C138Natural Product Biosynthesis: Chemical Logic and Enzymatic Machinery
Chemistry and Biochemistry · 4 units · Undergraduate upper division (100-199)
Covers fundamental chemical logic and enzyme mechanisms involved in biosynthesis of natural products. Discussion of major classes of natural product including polyketides, nonribosomal peptides, terpenes, alkaloids. Emphasis on biosynthetic logic used by nature to form complex molecules. Discussion of several important enzyme families in context of biosynthesis, including assembly-line megasynthases, group transferases, oxidoreductases, etc. Historical account of natural product isolation and characterization, as well as modern account of synthetic biology and genome based efforts that are used in discovery of new natural products. Includes extensive survey of scientific literature in format of presentations and discussions. Concurrently scheduled with course C238.
Letter grading.
When it runs
Not on the schedule for any of Fall 2025 through Spring 2027. UCLA publishes only that window, so this does not mean the course is gone — check the official listing.
Requisites
Official UCLA wording
Requisites: courses 30A, 30B, 30C, 153A.
Requires
Everything that has to come before this course, not just the courses named in the requisite above.
CHEM C138
- CHEM 30AOrganic Chemistry I: Structure and Reactivity
- CHEM 30BOrganic Chemistry II: Reactivity, Synthesis, and Spectroscopy
- CHEM 30COrganic Chemistry III: Reactivity, Synthesis, and Biomolecules
- CHEM 153ABiochemistry: Introduction to Structure, Enzymes, and Metabolism
- CHEM 14DOrganic Reactions and Pharmaceuticals
4 direct requisites. Showing 16 courses over 3 levels; the branches marked with a count carry on past it. Every course here opens its own tree.
Unlocks
What this course is a requisite for, and what those courses lead to in turn.
No course in the catalog lists this as a requisite.