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Biology 201 > Chemistry of Life > Flashcards

Chemistry of Life Flashcards

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1
Q

What are the 5 principles important to cell biology?

A
  • Characteristics of carbon
  • characteristics of water
  • selectively permeable membranes
  • synthesis by polymerization of small molecules
  • self assembly
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2
Q

What is organic chemistry?

A

the study of carbon containing compounds

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3
Q

What is biological chemistry?

A

the study of the chemistry of living systems

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4
Q

What are covalent bonds?

A

the sharing of a pair of electrons between two atoms

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5
Q

What is bond energy?

A

the amount of energy required to break 1 mole of such bonds

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6
Q

What are hydrocarbons? Why are they of limited importance in biology?

A

chains or rings composed only of carbon and hydrogen. They are not soluble in water

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7
Q

What functional groups are negatively charged?

A

Carboxyl and Phosphate

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8
Q

What functional group is positively charged?

A

Amino groups

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9
Q

What functional groups are uncharged and are they polar or non polar?

A

Hydroxyl, sulfhydroxyl, carbonyl and aldehyde. They are polar

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10
Q

What are polar bonds?

A

bonds in which electrons are not shared equally between two atoms

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11
Q

What are stereoisomers?

A

non-superimposable configurations that are mirror images

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12
Q

What is an asymmetric carbon atom?

A

has 4 different substituents

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13
Q

A compound with n asymmetric carbons will have how many possible stereoisomers?

A

2^n

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14
Q

Why is water important?

A

universal solvent, most abundant component of cells

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15
Q

What does water’s polarity account for?

A
  • Cohesiveness
  • Temperature-stabilizing capacity
  • Solvent Properties
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16
Q

Unequal distribution of electrons gives water its…? is it bent or linear?

A

polarity. its bent

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17
Q

Hydrogen bonds account for water’s high..?

A
  • surface tension
  • boiling point
  • specific heat
  • heat of vaporization
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18
Q

What is specific heat?

A

the amount of heat a substance must absorb to raise its temperature 1 degree

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19
Q

Why Is water good for stabilizing temperature?

A

b/c the heat that would raise the temperature of other liquids is first used to break numerous hydrogen bonds in water - therefore changes relatively slow

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20
Q

What is heat of vaporization?

A

the amount of energy required to convert 1 gram of liquid into vapor

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21
Q

What is a solvent?

A

fluid in which another substance (solute) can dissolve

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22
Q

What does hydrophilic mean?

A

“water loving” , solutes that have an affinity for water and easily dissolve in it

23
Q

What is an example of a hydrophilic molecule?

A

small molecules such as sugars, organic acids, some amino acids

24
Q

What does hydrophobic mean?

A

“water fearing”, molecules that are not easily soluble in water

25
Q

What is an example of a hydrophobic molecule?

A

lipids and proteins in membranes

26
Q

In water, anions and cations take part in what kind of interaction with the water molecules? And what is a result of this interaction?

A

electrostatic interaction which causes the ions to separate

27
Q

what kind of characteristics do barrier in cells need?

A
  • impermeable to much of the cell contents
  • not completely impermeable, allowing some materials in and out
  • insoluble in water to maintain integrity
  • permeable to water to allow flow of water in and out
28
Q

What are some characteristics of the cell membrane?

A
  • hydrophobic permeability barrier

- consists of phospholipids, glycolipids and membrane proteins

29
Q

what does amphipathic mean?

A

have both hydrophobic and hydrophilic regions ( ex. membrane lipids)

30
Q

What are the polar and non-polar parts of phospholipids?

A

polar - head, b/c of the negatively charged phosphate group linked to a positively charged group
non-polar - hydrocarbon tails

31
Q

What happens to amphipathic molecules in water?

A

undergo hydrophobic interactions

32
Q

What is the lipid bilayer?

A

structure that results from the polar heads of membrane phospholipids facing outwards towards the aqueous environment and the hydrophobic tails facing inward away from the aqueous environment.

33
Q

What happens to the lipid bilayer because of the hydrophobic interior?

A

it is readily permeable to non polar molecules

34
Q

What can pass through the lipid bilayer?

A
  • readily permeable to non polar molecules (O2, CO2)
  • quite impermeable to most polar molecules
  • highly impermeable to all ons (Na+, Cl-)
  • small uncharged polar molecules can sometimes get through (H2O)
35
Q

Since ions can’t pass the lipid bilayer, how do they cross it?

A

must be transported across a membrane by specialized transport proteins

36
Q

What are macromolecules?

A

ordered array of linear polymers

37
Q

What are important macromolecules in the cell?

A

proteins, nucleic acids and polysaccharides

38
Q

What is cellular hierarchy?

A

biological molecules and structures are organized into a series of levels, each building on the preceding one

39
Q

What is another name for nucleic acids and why?

A

informational macromolecules. b/c the order of the four kinds of nucleotide monomers in each Is non random and carries important info

40
Q

What function do DNA and RNA do?

A

coding function

41
Q

What are the functions of proteins?

A

structure, defence, transport, catalysis, signaling

42
Q

What do polysaccharides consist of?

A

single repeating subunits or two alternating subunits

43
Q

Is the order of monomers important?

A

no, it carries no information and is not essential for function

44
Q

What is the immediate product of amino cid polymerization?

A

a polypeptide

45
Q

What happens during a condensation reaction?

A

Something is built and water is released

46
Q

What happens during hydrolysis?

A

Degradation of polymers and water is added

47
Q

What is the principle of self assembly?

A

it states that info needed to specify the folding of macromolecules and their interactions to form complex structures is inherent in the polymers themselves

48
Q

What are molecular chaperones?

A

proteins that are sometimes needed to prevent incorrect folding

49
Q

What are ionic bonds?

A

strong non covalent electrostatic interactions between two oppositely charged ions

50
Q

What are Van Der Waal interactions?

A

weak attractions between two atoms that occur only if the atoms are very close to one another and orientated properly

51
Q

What are hydrophobic interactions?

A

the tendency of non polar groups within a macromolecule to associate with each and minimize their contact with water

52
Q

What is denaturation and renaturation?

A

Denaturation is the unfolding of polypeptides that leads to loss of function
Renaturation is the refolding into the correct conformation

53
Q

How do molecular chaperones work?

A

they bind to exposed regions in the early stages of assembly to inhibit unproductive assembly pathways that would lead to incorrect structures

Biology 201 (3 decks)

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