Organice Compounds - molecules of life, consist of one or more elements covalently bonded to carbon atoms
Hydrocarbons - have only hydrogen atoms attached to a carbon backbone
Functional groups - single atoms or clusters of atoms covalently bonded to the carbon backbone
Enzymes - a class of proteins which makes specific metabolic reactions proceed faster than they would on their own
5 classes of reactions:
Functional-group transfer - one molecule gives up a functional group, which another molecule accepts
Electron transfer - one or more electrons stripped from one molecule are donated to another molecule
Rearrangement - a juggling of internal bonds converts one type of organic compound into another
Condensation - through covalent bonding, two molecules combine to form a larger molecule
Cleavage - A molecule splits into two smaller ones
Polymer - large molecule with three to millions of subunits, which may or may not be identical
Monomers - the subunits of polymers
hydrolysis - a cleavage reaction
Only living cells synthesize carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acides
Carbohydrates consist of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen in a 1:2:1 ratio (however, there are exceptions)
monosaccaride - simplest carbohydrate, one monomer of sugar
oligosaccharide - a short chain of two or more sugar monomers that are bonded covalently
polysaccharides - straight or branched chains of many sugar monomers, often hundred or thousands of the same or different kinds
Lipids
mainly hydrocarbons that show very little tendency to dissolve in water, although they readily dissolve in nonpolar substances.
certain lipids are the main reservoirs of stored energy, others are structural materials in cells
fatty acids - lipids; can be unsaturated (1+ double bonds in their backbone), or saturated (single bonds only in backbone)
Triglycerides (neutral fats) - body’s most abundant lipids and richest energy source
Phospholipids - main materials of cell membranes, which have two layers of lipids
Sterols - have no fatty acid tails; cholesterol is the main type in animal tissues
Waxes - lipids that repel water, wax secretions help keep feathers dry
proteins - most diverse biological molecules;
amino acid - small organic compound that consists of an amino group, a carboxyl (acid) group, a hydrogen atom, and one or more atoms known as its R group
There are twenty kinds of amino acids available
dipeptide - forms when two amino acids bond together in a peptide bond
polypeptide chain - forms when three or more amino acids bond together in peptide bond
fibrous proteins - polypeptide chains organized as strands or sheets
globular proteins - polypeptide chains folded in compact, rather rounded shapes. most enzymes are globular.
primary structure of protein - sequence of amino acids in a polypeptide chain; unique for each type of protein
Secondary structure of protein - hydrogen bonds form at regular, short intervals along polypeptide chain, give rise to a coiled or extended pattern
Tertiary structure of protein - a polypeptide chain that is folded as a result of its bend-producing amino acids and R-group interactions
hemoglobin - oxygen-transporting protein
Quaternary structure - two or more polypeptide chains have become joined together by numerous weak interactions (such as hydrogren bonds) and sometimes by covalent bonds between sulfur and atoms of R groups
lipoproteins - form when certain proteins circulating in blood combine with cholesterol, triglycerides, and phospolipids
glycoproteins - have linear or branched oligosaccharides covalently bonded to them
denaturation - the breaking of weak bonds of a protein or any large molecule that disrupts its three-dimensional shape
nucleotides - small organic compounds with a sugar, at least on phosphate group, and a base
ATP - a nucleotide that has a string of three phosphate groups attached to its sugar component
coenzymes - enzyme helpers that accept hydrogen atoms and electrons stripped from molecules at a reaction site and transfer them elsewhere
nucleic acids - large, single or double stranded molecules
DNA - deoxyribonucleic acid; a long, double strand of nucleotides twisted helically
RNA - ribonucleic acid - single nucleotide strands