Macromolecules Chapter 5

Biochemistry
• Inorganic Compound
o Do not contain compounds, non-living things
o Water, sand, soil, rock, salts, ammonia
• Organic Compound
o Containing carbon, derived from living things
o Carbon readily will form 4 covalent bonds to be stable (valence is 4)
o Responsible for a great variation among living things
o Bonds mostly with hydrogen-forming hydrocarbons (important fuels)
o Also bonds frequently with nitrogen and oxygen
• Functional Groups
o Groups of molecules that have predictable reactions with other molecules
o The carbon skeleton and functional groups determine how the organic
compound will react
o Polymer – compound with repeated carbon units
o Polymerization – large compounds formed by joining smaller compounds,
can be either linear or ringed
 Polymers formed by either:
 Dehydration/Condensation – monomers are covalently linked
together, water is formed
 Hydrolysis reaction – breaks bonds between monomers by
adding water and OH- (hydroxide)
 Four Major Organic Compounds
• All four of these major organic molecules are considered to be macromolecules, or
large molecules and are present in all living things
o Carbohydrates
o Proteins
o Lipids
o Nucleic Acids
• Carbohydrates – organic macromolecule that are used to supply energy and also aid
in cell structure.
o Store chemical energy, used first by our bodies when energy is needed.
o Make plant cell walls, helps give a plant cell its sturdy structure
o Basic unit multiples of CH20 1:2:1 ratio
o Ex. Sugars and Starches
o Three types: Monosaccharide, Disaccharides, Polysaccharides
  Monosaccharide – simple sugars, 3-6 carbons
 Ex. Glucose, Fructose, Galactose
 C6H12O6
• Isomers: same molecular formula different arrangement
 Can be straight or changed
 Disaccharide
 Double sugar
 Two monosaccharides covalently bonded together
 Fructose + Glucose = Sucrose
 Examples: Maltose and Lactose
 Polysaccharide
 3 or more monosaccharides
 Forms complex carbohydrates
 Very long chain of sugars
 For storage
 Starch, Cellulose and Glycogen
• Lipids – fats, oils & waxes
o Do not dissolve in water of it is not soluble in water
o Fats store the most energy, our bodies do not use fats as primary source for
energy because it is easier to break a carbohydrate to release energy than it is
a lipid.
o Ex: Wax, oil, membrane hormones
o Phospholipids – lipid with a phosphate molecule attaché to it (makes up cell
membrane)
o Insulation
 Fats
 Made of glycerol, an organic alcohol (3 carbon backbone
attached to three hydroxyl groups), attached to three fatty
acids.
 Fatty Acid – long straight chain of carbon atoms with a
carboxyl (COOH) group at one end, connected to the glycerol
 Examples of Lipids:
• Triglyceride – 3 fatty acids joined to one glycerol. i.e.
fats (animals) and oils (plants)
o Saturated Fats – single bond, solid at room
temperature (animals)
 o Unsaturated Fats – double bond, liquid at room
temperature (plant)
• Waxes – 1 long fatty acid joined to a long alcohol
chain, makes them waterproof.
• Steroids – has no fatty acids, 4 fused carbon rings, has
different chemical properties depending on what
functional group is attached to it.
o Poisons hormones, cholesterol (not soluble)
• Proteins – macromolecules made up of amino acid monomers
o They are made of H, O, C, and N (sometimes S) – they give structure to
animals
 Ex: Hemoglobin, muscle actins, lysozyme, DNA polymerase
 Enzymatic forms make biochemistry occur in cells
 20 different amino acids
 Many amino acids together form a polypeptide – many
polypeptide form a protein
 All have a similar chemical structure but different “R” groups
make them different
o Enzymes
 Biological catalysts, speeds up a reaction  changes shape of
molecule to make bonding easier
 Does not change a reaction
 Lowers the activation energy, minimum energy required for action to
occur
 Very specific, like a lock and key  for every reaction there is an
enzyme
 Enzymes are proteins that participate in metabolic processes of the cell
 They enhance the rate of reaction between biomolecules, making a
reaction occur more quickly
 Enzymes can also reverse a reaction from the direction it would
normally take
 Enzymes can catalyze reactions that might not otherwise occur, by
lowering the activation energy.
 In enzyme-catalyzed reactions, reactants are called substrates.
 Substrates bind to an enzyme on a particular area called the
active site.  the substrate fits the enzyme perfectly
  Competitive Inhibition
 An inhibitor binds temporarily to the active site
 Enzyme function is disabled
 Non-Competitive Inhibition
 Inhibitor binds to another site on the enzyme from the active
site  changing of active site not allowing the substrate to
bind to the enzyme.
• The Non-Competitive inhibitor binds to the Allosteric
site.
• Nucleic Acids – store coded information in cells in the form of DNA and RNA for
making proteins (DNA is recipe for proteins, RNA is identical copy that carries out
the recipe)
o DNA – Deoxyribonucleic Acid – found in all cells, makes up our genetic
material and controls all cell activity
o RNA – Ribonucleic Acid – is used to make proteins from DNA instructions
o Nucleic Acids are made of monomers called Nucleotides
 Nitrogen Base, Phosphate group and a 5 carbon sugar
 Adenine and Guanine are Purines – double ringed (nitrogen base)
 Thymine, Cytosine, and Uracil are pyrimidines – single ringed.
o DNA
 Double helix
 Thymine
 Hereditary information
 Found only in nucleus
 One type
o RNA
 Single Helix
 Uracil
 Makes proteins
 Nucleus and cytoplasm
 Three types
 mRNA, tRNA, rRNA