Biological Role and Toxicity
The first element in group 14, carbon, is uniquely important in the chemistry of life. It is a key structural constituent of the many classes of compound which make up biological systems, such as lipids, carbohydrates and proteins. Whilst these compounds also contain other elements such as oxygen and hydrogen, it is the ability of carbon to form stable chains of multiple carbon-carbon bonds that is crucial in allowing such an enormous diversity of different biological molecules to exist. The oxidation and reduction of carbon to different oxidation states is the fundamental basis of the reactions that constitute biochemistry.
In contrast, the other elements of the group are largely absent from biochemistry, with toxicity to most organisms increasing down the group. Lead in particular is a serious environmental poison.
Read more about this topic: Carbon Group
Famous quotes containing the words biological and/or role:
“I am fifty-two years of age. I am a bishop in the Anglican Church, and a few people might be constrained to say that I was reasonably responsible. In the land of my birth I cannot vote, whereas a young person of eighteen can vote. And why? Because he or she possesses that wonderful biological attribute—a white skin.”
—Desmond Tutu (b. 1931)
“The role of the stepmother is the most difficult of all, because you can’t ever just be. You’re constantly being tested—by the children, the neighbors, your husband, the relatives, old friends who knew the children’s parents in their first marriage, and by yourself.”
—Anonymous Stepparent. Making It as a Stepparent, by Claire Berman, introduction (1980, repr. 1986)