Chapter 4 Flashcards
The complexity and variety of organic molecules is due to:
- The fact that they can be synthesized only in living organisms
- their tremendously large sizes
- the variety of rare elements in organic molecules
- the chemical versatility of carbon atoms
- their interaction with water
The chemical versatility of carbon atoms
Most organic compounds contain carbon and... Hydrogen Sulfur Phosphate Nitrogen Oxygen
Hydrogen
Stanley Millers 1953 experiments supported the hypothesis that…
Organic molecules can be synthesized abiotically under conditions that may have existed on early Earth
Hermann Kolbe’s synthesis
Proved organic compounds could be synthesized from inorganic compounds and disproved the concept of vitalism
L-Dopa is used to treat what illness?
Parkinson’s
What kind of effect does R-dopa have on Parkinson’s?
None
Enantomers are molecules that…
Are mirror images
Geometric isomers are molecules that…
Differ in the arrangement of their atoms about a double bond
What is a hydrocarbon?
A molecule with exclusively hydrogen and carbon
How many electron pairs does carbon share to complete it’s valence shell?
4
Why are hydrocarbons insoluble in water?
The majority of their bonds are nonpolar covalent carbon-hydrogen linkages
Which two functional groups are always found in amino acids?
Carboxyl and amino
In what way do testosterone and estradiol differ?
They have different functional groups attached to the same carbon skeleton
What about a methyl functional group?
A group consists of a carbon bonded to three hydrogen atoms
