From carbon compounds to macromolecules I

Question 1

What is an organic compound?

Answer 1

A compound containing carbon. CO2, carbon dioxide is generally not considered an organic compound.

Question 2

What are macromolecules? Give 4 examples.

Answer 2

On the molecular scale, members of three of these classes, carbohydrates (kulhydrater), proteins (proteiner) and nucleic acids (nukleinsyrer), are huge and are therefore called macromolecules. Lipids (lipider), are part of the four large groups, but is not included as a macromolecule. Danner ikke ægte polymerer.

Question 3

What is an atoms valence?

Answer 3

(Valens) The number of covalent bonds an atom can form, the number of unpaired electrons in the valence shell of an atom is generally equal to the atom’s valence. Carbon has 4.

Question 4

What are hydrocarbons?

Answer 4

(Kulbrinter) Organic molecules consisting of only carbon and hydrogen.

Question 5

What are isomers?

Answer 5

(Isomerer) Variation in the architecture of organic molecules can be seen isomers, compounds that have the same number of atoms of the same elements, but different structures and hence different properties.

Question 6

What are structural isomers?

Answer 6

(Strukturelle isomerer) They differ in the covalent arrangements of their atoms. Or in their arrangement of double and triple bonds.

Question 7

What are cis-trans isomers?

Answer 7

(Cis-trans isomerer) Carbons have covalent bonds to the same atoms, but these atoms differ in their spatial arrangement due to the inflexibility of double bonds. Single bonds let the atoms rotate, but with double bonds they’re locked in place. That makes cis-trans isomers possible.

Question 8

What are enantiomeres? What defines them?

Answer 8

(Enantiomerer, spejlbillede isomer) (Chirater, asymmetriske molekyler) They are isomers that are mirror images of each other and that differ in shape due to the presence of an asymmetrical carbon, one that is attached to four different atoms or groups of atoms.

Question 9

What are the 6 functional groups?

Answer 9

(funktionelle grupper, de kan erstatte kemiske grupper i kulbrinter) Chemical groups affect molecular function by being directly involved in chemical reactions; these important chemical groups are known as functional groups. They are hydroxyl, carbonyl, amino, sulfhydryl, phosphate, and methyl groups, see figure 3.6.

Question 10

What are polymers?

Answer 10

(polymere) A polymer is a long molecule consisting of many similar or identical building blocks, linked by covalent bonds.

Question 11

What are monomers?

Answer 11

(monomere) The repeating unit that you use to make polymers out of, although some monomers have their own functions.

Question 12

What is the full name for ATP? What is it and why is it important?

Answer 12

A complicated organic phosphate that is worth mentioning because its function in the cell is so important. Where 3 phosphates in a series connected to adenosine, which is one adenosine triphosphate, 1 phosphate may be split off in a reaction with water. You say that ATP stores energy, but in reality it stores the ability to react with water, which creates the energy it is said to store. The leftover ion, HOPO32-, is called adenosine diphosphate, ADP.

Question 13

What are enzymes?

Answer 13

Specialized macromolecules (usually proteins) that speed up chemical reactions.

Question 14

What is a dehydration reaction? Give an example.

Answer 14

(dehydreringsreaktion/kondensation) Monomers are connected by a reaction in which two molecules are covalently bonded to each other, with the loss of a water molecule.

Question 15

What is hydrolysis?

Answer 15

(hydrolyse) Polymers are disassembled to monomers by hydrolysis, a process that is the reverse of a dehydration reaction. You add a water molecule to split up the polymer into two, or add more to completely reduce it to monomers.

Question 16

What are carbohydrates?

Answer 16

It includes both sugars and polymers of sugars. They are monosaccharides, disaccharides and polysaccharides. Mono being simple sugars, di being double sugars and poly being macromolecules, polymers made from dehydration reactions.

Question 17

What are monosaccharides?

Answer 17

(Monosakkerider) It’s a carbohydrate (sugar). Made from multiplications of CH2O. When they get in water, they form ring structures.

Question 18

What are disaccharides?

Answer 18

(Disakkarid) A dissaccharide is made from two monosaccharides joined by a glycosidic linkage, the link formed between two monosaccharides in a dehydration reaction.

Question 19

What is glycosidic linkage?

Answer 19

A link formed between two monosaccharides in a dehydration reaction. Glyco refers to carbohydrates (sugars).

Question 20

What are polysaccharides?

Answer 20

(polysakkarider, polymerer af sukker) Made from monosaccharides. They are macromolecules, polymers with a few hundred to a few thousand monosaccharides joined by glycosidic linkages. They serve as storage material, hydrolysed as needed to provide sugar for cells. Others are building material for structures that protect the cell or whole organism. The structure and function is determined by the monosaccharides and the glycosidic linkages.

Question 21

What is starch? What is it used for?

Answer 21

(Stivelse, alfabindinger) Plants store starch, a polymer of glucose monomers, as granules within cells. Synthesizing starch enables the plant to stockpile surplus glucose. Since glucose is a major cellular fuel, starch represents stored energy. It is withdrawn through hydrolysis. Starch has alfa glucose configuration.

Question 22

What is glycogen?

Answer 22

(Glykogen) Animals store a polysaccharide called glycogen, a polymer of glucose that is like amylopectin, but more extensively branched. (Amylopectin is a more complex starch, branched polymer with 1-6 linkages at the branch point.

Question 23

What is cellulose?

Answer 23

(cellulose, beta-bindinger) The polysaccharide called cellulose is a major component of the tough walls that enclose plant cells. It is a polymer of glucose, like starch, but it has a beta glucose configuration.

Question 24

What is chitin?

Answer 24

It is a polysaccharide, the carbohydrate used by arthropods, (insects, spiders, crustaceans and related animals).

Question 25

What are lipids? What characterize them?

Answer 25

(Lipider, de består mest af kulbrinter) Lipids is a group of compounds that belong together because they share the trait of being hydrophobic, meaning they don’t mix well with water or don’t mix with it at all. This is based on the molecular structure. They may have polar bonds associated with oxygen, they mostly consist of hydrocarbons.

Question 26

What is fat?

Answer 26

(Fedtstoffer) A fat consists of two kinds of smaller molecules: glycerol and 3 fatty acids. Glycerol has three hydroxyl groups that each bind to a fatty acid in a dehydration reaction, where they are now connected with an ester linkage.

Question 27

What is a fatty acid?

Answer 27

(Fedtsyrer) A fatty acid has a long carbon skeleton, usually 16 or 18 carbon atoms in length, where in one end there is a carboxyl group, which is the functional group giving it the name acid. The rest is a chain of hydrocarbons which is relatively nonpolar, and makes it hydrophobic.

Question 28

What is triacylglycerol?

Answer 28

(Fedtmolekyle) When glycerol bond with 3 fatty acids by a dehydration reaction in an ester linkage, it is called a triacylglycerol, commonly known as a triglyceride.

Question 29

What are saturated fatty acids?

Answer 29

(Mættet fedtsyre) When a hydrocarbon chain in a fatty acid does not have any double bonds, it is said to be a saturated fatty acid, since it is saturated with hydrogen. That also means that the chain has a trans structure throughout.

Question 30

What are unsaturated fatty acids?

Answer 30

(Umættede fedtsyre) There are two kinds of unsaturated fatty acids, one is called monounsaturated fatty acid, which is when a hydrocarbon chain has one double bond. Nearly every double bond in a hydrocarbon is a cis double bond. That means that the chains can’t lie as close as when all the chains are trans. Then there are unsaturated fatty acids which have two or more double bonds creating even more cis bonds.

Question 31

What are trans fats? When is there typically a trans double bond?

Answer 31

(Trans fedt) Trans fat means that the hydrocarbon chain has a trans structure, which looks like a zig-zag pattern, however there is a phrase called “hydrogenated vegetable oils”, which is when unsaturated fats are synthetically converted to saturated fats by adding hydrogen bonds, allowing them to solidify. This creates unsaturated fats with trans double bonds. This is what is meant by trans fat. It has in US been shown to contribute to coronary heart disease.

Question 32

What is a phospholipid?

Answer 32

(Fosforlipider) A phospholipid is similar to a fat molecule, except it only has two hydrocarbons connected to the glycerol rather than 3. The third hydroxyl group is joined to a phosphate group, which has a negative electrical charge in the cell. The two ends act differently. The hydrocarbon end is hydrophobic and tends to turn its end toward another hydrocarbon end of a phospholipid, creating a bilayer when getting in contact with water, the other end of the phospholipid, the phosphate group and its attachment creates a hydrophilic head that has affinity for water.

Question 33

What are steroids?

Answer 33

Steroids are lipids characterized by a carbon skeleton consisting of 4 fused rings. Different steroids are distinguished by the particular chemical groups attached to these rings.

Question 34

What is cholesterol? What important function does it have in animals?

Answer 34

It is a crucial steroid in animals. Cholesterol is a common component of animal cell membranes and is also a precursor from which other steroids are synthesized, such as estrogen and testosterone. A high level of cholesterol in the blood may contribute to atherosclerosis, (when plaque sits in the blood vessels making less space for the blood to get around).