1.1 Flashcards
What are the 5 molecules that make up living organisms?
Water, carbohydrates, protein, lipids, nucleic acids
What are lipids?
Fat & oils
What are nucleic acids?
DNA and RNA
What elements make up 99% of the atoms in living organisms?
Hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen
What are micronutrients
Elements needed in trace amounts
What can carbon atoms join to form?
Chain and ring structures, which are essential to life
What are complex compounds of carbon called?
Organic compounds
What do organic molecules have?
Carbon - hydrogen bonds. E.g CH4
What are organic compounds?
Molecules of life, e.g carbohydrates, proteins and lipids. Complex compounds of carbon
What are inorganic compounds?
Compounds which don’t have carbon-hydrogen bonds
What is an ion?
An atom or group of atoms which has lost or gained 1 or more electrons
What kind of elements present as inorganic ions?
Many key elements, essential for cell metabolism are present as inorganic ions.
What is magnesium’s biological role?
Constituent of chlorophyll, so essential for photosynthesis.
What is iron’s biological role?
Part of haemoglobin, which transports oxygen in red blood cells.
What is nitrate’s biological role?
Nitrogen is derived from nitrate and it is needed for making nucleotides (ATP, DNA, RNA), and amino acid formation.
What is phosphate’s biological role?
Making nucleotides like ATP, DNA, RNA. Constituent of phospholipids found in biological membranes. Hardens bones.
What is calcium’s biological role?
A component of plant cell walls. Hardens bones and teeth. Is a chemical messenger.
What is the most important biochemical?
Water. Without it, life wouldn’t exist on the planet.
Is water polar or non polar?
A polar molecule
What is a polar molecule?
Molecule where the oxygen end of the molecule has negative charge and hydrogen atoms have positive charge
What is a dipole?
The uneven distribution of charge.
How is a hydrogen bond formed?
When two water molecules are in close contact, the opposing charges attract each other, forming a hydrogen bond.
What is the attraction between water molecules called?
Cohesion
What do polar molecules dissolve.
Polar molecules can only dissolve polar molecules.
What bond is formed when 2 water molecules are in close contact and the opposing charges attract each other?
Hydrogen bond
What framework is formed by many hydrogen bonds?
Lattice-like framework (stronger than just one hydrogen bond)
Properties of water
Solvent, transport medium, chemical reaction site, high specific heat capacity, high latent heat of vaporization, cohesion, surface tension, density, transparent, metabolite.
What does it mean if water is a solvent?
Positive and negative parts of water molecule attract other charged particles.
Ion and polar molecules dissolve in water. Non polar molecules like lipids do not dissolve in water
What does it mean if water is a transport medium?
Lots of water in blood and it transports many dissolved substances around the body.
In plants, minerals dissolved in water transported from roots to leaves
What does it mean if chemical reactions take place in water?
Transport of ions and polar molecules allow chemical reactions to take place when particles or molecules meet
What does it mean if water has a high latent heat capacity
Lots of heat energy is needed to raise temp of water.
Why is high latent heat capacity important in water?
Keeps temperature of aquatic environments stable, and allows molecules to work effectively
What does it mean if water has a high latent heat of vaporisation?
Because of cohesion, large amounts of heat energy are needed to change water from liquid to vapour
What causes cooling in body?
Evaporation of water from our skin (a surface)
What is cohesion?
Attraction between water molecules. Allows water molecules to be transported up xylem of even the tallest trees.
Surface tension in water
At ordinary temperatures, water has the highest surface tension of other liquids. Cohesion of water molecules supports organisms to walk on water
Density of water
As ice, water is less dense.
Why is water less dense as ice?
Reduces tendency for lots of water to freeze completely, so organisms survive
Why is water transparent?
Allows light to pass through, so that aquatic plants and algae can photosynthesise.
What does it mean if water is a metabolite?
Takes place in many biochemical reactions. E.g photosynthesis and hydrolysis
What are carbohydrates?
Organic compounds containing carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen
What do carbohydrates do?
Source of energy in plants and animals. Some have structural role in plant cell walls (e.g. cellulose).
What are monosaccharides?
Small organic molecules called monomers .
Sugars that dissolve easily.
Structure of monosaccharides?
Can be straight chain or a ring structure
How are monosaccharides classified?
According to the number of carbon atoms in the molecule
Name of the monosaccharide with 3 carbons? And its function
Triose - important in metabolism
Name of the monosaccharide with 5 carbons? And its function
Pentose - nucleic acid formation
Name of the monosaccharide with 6 carbons? And its function
Hexose - Main energy source of the cell
What are isomers
Molecules that share the same number of atoms and same chemical formula, but the atoms are arranged differently. E.g. an alpha glucose ring has H above C1 while beta glucose has C1 above H
What are structural isomers?
Isomers with the same molecular formula but atoms are linked in different sequences. E.g glucose and fructose
What are optical isomers?
Isomers with the same molecular formula and are identical in every way except that they’re mirror images of each other. E.g alpha glucose and beta glucose
What 2 isomers does glucose exist as?
Alpha and beta glucose. They share the same number of atoms but the atoms are arranged differently.
How are disaccharides formed?
By joining 2 monosaccharide units by condensation reactions
What bond joins 2 hexose units together to make a disaccharide?
Glycosidic bond
Steps of condensation reaction to form a disaccharide
1.) 2 hydroxyl (-OH) groups line up alongside each other.
2.) One -OH combines with the H atom of another, forming a water molecule (H2O)
3.) This allows a glycosidic bond/oxygen bridge to form.
How do you reverse the making of a disaccharide
Hydrolysis
What is hydrolysis?
The chemical addition of water to break a chemical bond.
What disaccharide do the monosaccharides glucose+glucose form?
Maltose, found in seeds
What disaccharide do the monosaccharides glucose+fructose form?
Sucrose, found in fruit
What disaccharide do the monosaccharides glucose+galactose form?
Lactose, found in milk
How to test for reducing sugars?
With Benedict’s Reagent.
1. Heat up the solution with Benedict’s.
2. If it’s a reducing sugar it will turn the benedicts from blue to brick red.
How do reducing sugars turn benedicts from blue to brick red?
Because the sugar reduces the blue copper || sulphate to form copper | oxide, which is a brick red precipitate
How to test for non-reducing sugars with Benedict’s?
Non-reducing sugars can’t reduce cupper || sulphate so benedict’s won’t work.
1.) Sucrose must be hydrolysed by boiling in dilute hydrochloric acid.
2.) Glucose and fructose formed.
3.) Acid must be neutralised with sodium hydroxide before testing with benedict’s reagent
4.) Should now give positive result because glucose and fructose are reducing sugars.