title: Synthetic biology: lessons from the history of synthetic organic chemistry.
abstract: The mid-nineteenth century saw the development of a radical new direction in chemistry: instead of simply analyzing existing molecules, chemists began to synthesize them--including molecules that did not exist in nature. The combination of this new synthetic approach with more traditional analytical approaches revolutionized chemistry, leading to a deep understanding of the fundamental principles of chemical structure and reactivity and to the emergence of the modern pharmaceutical and chemical industries. The history of synthetic chemistry offers a possible roadmap for the development and impact of synthetic biology, a nascent field in which the goal is to build novel biological systems.
authors: Chemistry and Chemical Biology Graduate Program, University of California, San Francisco, 600-16th Street, San Francisco, California 94158-2517, USA.
authors: Brian J
authors: BJ
authors: Yeh
authors: Wendell A
authors: WA
authors: Lim
mesh_terms: D002625:Chemistry, Organic / Q000266:history* / Q000379:methods; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways; D008967:Molecular Biology / Q000639:trends*; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D049490:Systems Biology
chemical_list: D009930:Organic Chemicals