Name______Date______
Biochemistry Cheat Sheet Living Environment: Comet 2004-2005
Huh??? You expect me to be able to remember this??? YUP, I do!!!!
Important Organic Biochemical Compounds
Name & Example
/ Looks like / Important Information about this compoundCarbohydrate
Examples include, but are not limited to: sugars, starches, chitin, etc. /
or
/ Carbohydrates
The main function of carbohydrates in animals is to provide an energy source. A few carbohydrates serve as structural units such as deoxyribose. This sugar can be found in DNA. When the energy is not being used by the animal, the carbohydrate is stored as glycogen. Carbohydrates are composed of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen. In most carbohydrates, there is one carbon atom for each water molecule. Carbohydrates are categorized into three groups based on molecule size.
Monosaccharides
Monosaccharides are composed of three to seven carbons. Prefixes indicate the number of carbon atoms contained in the molecule. For example, a pentose would consist of five carbon atoms. One of the main energy suppliers to the body happens to be a monosaccharide called glucose, a hexose.
Disaccharides
A disaccharide is the result when two monosaccharides combine by dehydration synthesis. One water molecule also results as a byproduct. For example, the monosaccharides fructose and glucose combine in the chemical equation C6H12O6(glucose) + C6H12O6(fructose) ----> C12H22O11(sucrose) + H2O(water) to form sucrose and water. You may notice that glucose and fructose have the same chemical composition; however they differ in the relative positions of their carbon and oxygen atoms. In order to obtain monosaccharides from a disaccharide, all you need to do is add water. This is a process called hydrolysis.
Polysaccharides
Polysaccharides consist of not only three or four monosaccharides, but tens and hundreds in long chains. These monosaccharides were also joined by dehydration synthesis. The main polysaccharide that is in the human body is glycogen. Glycogen is stored in the liver and skeletal muscles and can be broken down into monosaccharides for use as energy. In order to achieve monosaccharide status, polysaccharides must also go through hydrolysis.
Lipids
Examples include, but are not limited to: fats, oils, and waxes, etc. /
or
/ Lipids
Lipids are very chemically diverse compunds which all share one common trait -- hydrophobia. They possess little or no affinity to water because of their molecular structure - mostly hydrocarbon regions with nonpolar bonds. There are three major categories of lipids:
Fats
-large molecules composed of the two smaller molecules glycerol and fatty acids. When these two combine, the product is a triacylglycerol (or tryglyceride). The major function of fat is to supply a reserve of energy which is stored in adipose cells.
Phospholipids
-similar to fats, but contain two fatty acids and a phosphate group which attaches to the glycerol molecule. The phosphate group is hydrophilic while the hydrocarbons remain hydrophobic. This structure allows phospholipids to act as cell membranes inside the body.
Steroids
-consist of four interconnected carbon rings. Cholesterol, an important steroid, is also a part of cell membranes.
Proteins
any of a large group of nitrogenous organic compounds that are essential constituents of living cells; consist of polymers of amino acids; essential in the diet of animals for growth and for repair of tissues; can be obtained from meat and eggs and milk and legumes) "a diet high in protein" /
or
/ Proteins
Proteins are another major group of organic compounds in addition to carbohydrates and lipids. Composed of amino acids, proteins serve in both structural and physiological roles. In their structural role, proteins compose many of the cellular building materials. In their physiological roles, proteins are enzymes that speed up many biochemical reactions. Some proteins, in muscle, aid in movement, while other proteins, as antibodies, help defend the body.
A protein is formed when amino acids are joined. An amino acid contains three main groups connected to one central carbon atom. These three groups are the carboxyl group (-COOH), the amino group (-NH2), and the side chain (R group). The bonds that join amino acids are called peptide bonds which form between the carboxyl and amino groups. A pair of linked amino acids is called a dipeptide. If you add another amino acid, it now becomes a tripeptide. Polypeptides consist of between 10 and 2000 amino acids.
Enzymes
Enzymes are responsible for either speeding up, slowing down, or changing the rate of a reaction.
Usually end with the suffix “-ase” and the prefix indicates what is being broken down. /
or
And enzymes are often influenced by three things: temperature, pH, and Concentration. These graphs represent those three things.
And then we need to remember a bit about the pH scale….
But ultimately, our bodies need to be able to either build up (dehydration synthesis) or break down (hydrolysis) molecules for either use or storage. So, looking at it briefly…
And now, the tough part…. What is the difference between DEHYDRATION SYNTHESIS and HYDROLYSIS?
Dehydration Synthesis: As the name implies, this is “creating a larger molecule” and at the same time”giving off water”. An examples follows (3 different views of it, no less)…
In Words / Glucose + Glucose à Sucrose + WaterIn Chemical Formula / C6H12O6 + C6H12O6 à C12H22O11 + H2O
In Structure / + à + H2O
OR, We can do the opposite, known as…
Hydrolysis: As the name implies, this is “making a smaller molecule” by ”adding water”. An examples follows (3 different views of it, no less)…
In words / Sucrose + Water à Glucose + GlucoseIn Chemical Formula / C12H22O11 + H2O à C6H12O6 + C6H12O6
In structure / + H2O à +