Chemistry of Carbon Building Blocks of Life 2007-2008
Why study Carbon? All of life is built on carbon Cells ~72% 2 O ~25% carbon compounds carbohydrates lipids proteins nucleic acids ~3% salts Na, Cl, K
Chemistry of Life Organic chemistry is the study of carbon compounds. All living things have carbon in it! Therefore all living things are organic! C atoms are versatile building blocks Very reactive atom. Outer most shell needs four more electrons to be full or stable. Can form up to 4 stable covalent bonds
Let s review the hierarchy of life Atom Element Molecule Organelle Cell Tissue Organ Organ system Organism Population Community Ecosystem Biosphere Whew! Glad you didn t forget that! Did I mention this will be on your final exam in May?
We are adding 3 more! Atom Element Molecule Monomers Polymers Macromolecule Organelle Cell Tissue Organ Organ system Organism Population Community Ecosystem Biosphere
What is a monomer? What does the prefix mono mean? ONE! A single (one unit) that are building blocks of larger molecules. LEGO? LETTERS of the alphabet? B I O I S F U N
What is a polymer? MONO+MONO+MONO+MONO=POLY What does the prefix poly mean? MANY! Polymers are many monomers joined together LETTERS of the alphabet? Consider the previous slide B I O I S F U N
Polymers Long molecules built by linking repeating building blocks in a chain monomers Think individual legos! building blocks repeated small units eld together by covalent bonds O O 2 O Dehydration synthesis O
Dehydration Synthesis or Condensation Reaction.
ow to build a polymer Synthesis joins monomers by taking 2 O out one monomer donates O other monomer donates + together these form 2 O requires energy & enzymes You gotta be open to bonding! 2 O O Dehydration synthesis Condensation reaction O O enzyme
ydrolysis or Digestion
ow to break down a polymer Digestion use 2 O to breakdown polymers reverse of dehydration synthesis cleave off one monomer at a time 2 O is split into + and O + & O attach to ends requires enzymes releases energy O Breaking up is hard to do! enzyme 2 O ydrolysis Digestion O O
What is a macromolecule? What does the prefix micro mean? SMALL What does the prefix macro mean? LARGE! Macromolecules are many monomers and/or polymers joined together to form very LARGE molecules.
BIO + IS + FUN = BIO IS FUN Letters of the alphabet represent monomers. Letters combine to make words represent monomers combining to make polymers. Combing words to make sentences represent combining polymers to make macromolecules!
The 4 Macromolecules Building Blocks of Life 2007-2008
Macromolecules Smaller organic molecules join together to form larger molecules macromolecules 4 major classes of macromolecules: carbohydrates lipids proteins nucleic acids
Carbohydrates
C 2 O O O O O O Carbohydrates energy molecules 2006-2007
Carbohydrates Carbohydrates are composed of C,, O carbo - hydr - ate C 2 O (C 2 O) x C 6 12 O 6 Monomers: simple sugars (single sugars) or monosacharride (prefix mono=one & suffix saccharide = sugar ). 3 monosaccharides : Glucose, fructose and galactose sugar sugar sugar sugar sugar sugar sugar sugar
Function: Dietary energy raw materials energy storage structural materials ex: sugars, starches, cellulose
Sugars Most names for sugars end in -ose Classified by number of carbons 6C = hexose (glucose) 5C = pentose (ribose) 3C = triose (glyceraldehyde) C 2 O C 2 O C O O O O O O 6 5 3 O O C C O O O O Glucose Ribose Glyceraldehyde
More sugars! Disaccharides = 2 sugars Sucrose, maltose, lactose Polysaccharides = many sugars large polymers Starch Glycogen Cellulose Chitin
Building sugars Dehydration synthesis monosaccharides disaccharide glucose 2 O glucose maltose glycosidic linkage The bond that joins monosaccharides to create polysaccharides
Building sugars Dehydration synthesis monosaccharides disaccharide glucose 2 O fructose sucrose (table sugar)
Polysaccharides Polymers of sugars costs little energy to build easily reversible = release energy Function: energy storage starch (plants) glycogen (animals) in liver & muscles structure cellulose (plants) chitin (arthropods & fungi)
Linear vs. branched polysaccharides slow release starch (plant) energy storage glycogen (animal) fast release
Polysaccharide diversity Molecular structure determines function in starch in cellulose isomers of glucose structure determines function
Digesting starch vs. cellulose starch easy to digest enzyme cellulose hard to digest enzyme
Cellulose Most abundant organic compound on Earth herbivores have evolved a mechanism to digest cellulose most carnivores have not that s why they eat meat to get their energy & nutrients cellulose = undigestible roughage
Cow can digest cellulose well; no need to eat other sugars Gorilla can t digest cellulose well; must add another sugar source, like fruit to diet
elpful bacteria ow can herbivores digest cellulose so well? BACTERIA live in their digestive systems & help digest cellulose-rich (grass) meals
EAT X Let s build some Carbohydrates! 2006-2007