Chap 5 Flashcards
Macromolecule
A giant molecule formed by the joining of smaller molecules. (Polysaccharides, proteins, and nucleic acids are macromolecules.)
Polymer
A long molecule consisting of many similar or identical monomers linked together by covalent bonds
Monomer
The subunit that serves as the building block of a polymer.(A molecule that react to other monomer molecules.)
Enzyme
A macromolecule serving as a catalyst, a chemical agent that increases the rate of a reaction without being consumed by the reaction. Most enzymes are proteins.
Dehydration reaction
A chemical reaction was n which two molecules become covalently bonded to each other with the removal of a water molecule
Hydrolysis
A chemical reaction that breaks bonds between two molecules by addition of water; functions in disassembly of polymers to monomers.
Carbohydrate
A sugar (monosaccharide) or one of its dimers (disaccharides) or polymers (polysaccharides)
Monosaccharides
The simplest carbohydrate, active alone or serving as a monomer for disaccharides and polysaccharides. Also called simple sugars, monosaccharides have molecular formulas that are generally some multiple of CH2O
Disaccharide
A double sugar, consisting of two monosaccharides joined by a glycosidic linkage formed by a dehydration reaction.
Polysaccharides
A polymer of many monosaccharides, formed by dehydration reactions.
Starch
A storage polysaccharide in plants, consisting entirely of glucose monomers joined by glycosidic linkages.
Cellulose
A structural polysaccharide of plant cell walls, consisting of glucose monomers joined by B glycosidic linkages
Chitin
A structural polysaccharide, consisting of amino sugar monomers, found in many fungal cell walls and in the exoskeletons of arthropods.
