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Exploring the Ocean - Stating the Case for Chemistry
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Abstract
Salinity measurements and carbonate-bicarbonate equilibria used to be the only topics studied under what was known as "marine chemistry". But in the past few decades organic chemists have changed this situation profoundly by exploring the diverse fauna and flora of coral reefs and the ocean floor. Examples, largely drawn from research in my laboratory, illustrate the wealth of molecular structures and bioactivities that awaits discovery. By following leads in the biological literature, by casual observations during dives, or by analyzing organisms collected at random we have been able to elucidate new molecular structures and uncover ecological relationships in coral reef communities. Aboard a minisubmersible we observed bioluminescent gorgonian corals and giant trees of gold and black corals. The heterogeneous chemistry of a shallow water carnivorous snail collected by chance guided us to its ultimate food source, a blue-green alga, via the intermediary of an herbivorous mollusk.
Keywords (Audience):
High School / Introductory ChemistryKeywords (Domain):
Organic ChemistryKeywords (Feature):
Products of ChemistryKeywords (Subject):
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- Received: August 03, 2009
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