CH 5.1: The Structure and Function of Large Biological Molecules Flashcards
What is a macromolecule?
large molecules made up of smaller molecules
What is a polymer?
long molecule consisting of many similar/identical building blocks
What is a monomer?
the repeating units that serve as the building blocks of a polymer
What is an enzyme?
specialized macromolecules that speed up chemical reactions
What is a condensation reaction?
reaction that connects monomers or polymers
What are polymers disassembed to monomer by?
Hydrolysis which adds a water molecule, breaking a bond
What are proteins built from?
hundreds of amino acids
Four groupd of polymers:
carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids
What are carbohydrates?
sugars and polymers of sugars (polysaccharied)
What are monosaccharides?
the simplest carbohydrates (monomers)
What are disaccharides?
double sugars, two monosaccharides joined by covalent bond
Trademarks of a monasaccharide:
the molecule has a carbonyl group, C double bond O, and multiple hydroxyl groups, -OH
What is a glycasidic linkage?
a covalent bond formed between two monosacchareds by a dehydration reaction
What is a polysaccharide?
macromolecules, made of hundres to thousands of monosaccharides joined by glycosidic linkages
What are storage polysaccharides?
plants and animals store sugar in the form of polysaccharides to use them later
What is starch?
a polymer of glucase monomers
Structural polysaccharides are used
to build strong materials for organisms, ex. cellulose and chitin
What are lipids?
hydrophobic, only large biological molecules that do not include true polymers
True or False: fats are not polymers but are bonded smaller molecules
true, the smaller molecules are asembled by dehydration reactions
What is a fatty acid?
a long carbon skeleton, 16-18 carbon atoms
What is an ester linkage?
bond between a hydroxyl group and a carboxyl group
What is a saturated fatty acid?
no double bonds between carbons-has as many hydrogen atoms as possible
What is a unsaturated fatty acid?
has one + double bonds - fewer hydrogen atoms
What is a saturated fat?
the hydrocarbon chains of their fatty acids lack double bonds, allows the fat molecules to pack together tightley