The Biological Chemistry of the Elements: The Inorganic Chemistry Of Life

Only 4 chemical elements, H, O, C, and N comprise 99 % of living matter (as atom-fraction or percentage) !Excellent monograph on functional value of elements in living organisms !

Nice book. Great service.

I'm a fourth year going next year to grad school in bioinorganic chemistry. This is the kind of book I wanted to have as reference for a long time. It covers the biological chemistry of each element, explaining why different metals are used in different systems. It is the first book that I found in which it is explained why only Co and Ni form organometallic bonds and not the rest of the transition metals. It is true, it is a chemistry book, but that's what I needed. The figures and the language are great, and the references at the end of each chapter are very useful. It is updated (october 2001), something very important in biochemistry. In short, a great reference!

The biological Chemistry of the Elements: The Inorganic Chemistry of Life is an excellent text to provide some valuable resources for chemist.

According to a table on page 9 the book notes that fluoride (element F) is a “trace element believed to be essential for bacteria, plants, or animals”. So fluoride is considered essential based on a belief? So beliefs about fluoride are now science? Where is the evidence that fluoride is essential? I bet nobody can find any such evidence.A major chemical institution has used this statement as solid evidence that fluoride is essential for life. Statements about fluoride are sometimes not based on any actual science.