Biology 2e is designed to cover the scope and sequence requirements of a typical two-semester biology course for science majors. The text provides comprehensive coverage of foundational research and core biology concepts through an evolutionary lens. Biology includes rich features that engage students in scientific inquiry, highlight careers in the biological sciences, and offer everyday applications. The book also includes various types of practice and homework questions that help students understand—and apply—key concepts. The 2nd edition has been revised to incorporate clearer, more current, and more dynamic explanations, while maintaining the same organization as the first edition. Art and illustrations have been substantially improved, and the textbook features additional assessments and related resources.

By the end of this section, you will be able to do the following:

Explain why carbon is important for life
Describe the role of functional groups in biological molecules

Chemistry I course is a general introductory chemistry course, it has important aspects that are needed to understand the organic chemistry in this module. The knowledge of bonding, the difference between ionic and covalent bonding, electronic configuration of different atoms; all these aspects are vital for a good understanding of this module on organic chemistry. Chemistry II course is even a more relevant prerequisite for this module because it had a unit on introductory organic chemistry where at the end of that particular unit you were expected to be able to

1. Classify types of organic compounds based on functional groups.

2. Name different classes of organic compounds using the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) system of nomenclature.

3. Write structural formulas of different isomeric compounds.

4. Relate properties and reactions of organic compounds to functional groups.