Fundamentals of Biochemistry

Question 1

What are the four classes of biomolecules?

Answer 1

Amino acids, Carbohydrates, nucleotides, lipids.

Question 2

What color is oxygen represented as?

Answer 2

Red.

Question 3

What color is carbon represented as?

Answer 3

Black or grey.

Question 4

What color is hydrogen represented as?

Answer 4

White.

Question 5

What color is nitrogen represented as?

Answer 5

Blue.

Question 6

What color is sulfur represented as?

Answer 6

Yellow

Question 7

What bond connects amino acids?

Answer 7

Peptide bonds

Question 8

What bond connects nucleotides?

Answer 8

Phosphodiester bonds

Question 9

What bond connects monosaccharides?

Answer 9

Glycosidic bonds.

Question 10

What is the difference between ice and water? (H-Bonds)

Answer 10

Ice has structured and regular lattices of hydrogen bonds, while water has constantly fluctuating hydrogen bond structures.

Question 11

What are Van der Waals Interactions?

Answer 11

Non-covalent biological interactions that result from the displacement of charge around an atom or molecule result in temporary and unstable bonds.

Consist of: Dipole-Dipole and London Dispersion Forces.

Question 12

What are Dipole-Dipole Interactions?

Answer 12

Occurs between polar uncharged groups (HCl, HF) in which electronegativity is drawn from a particular atom to increase its electropositivity and attract an electronegative atom that is a part of a separate molecule.

Question 13

What are London Dispersion Interactions?

Answer 13

Nonpolar molecules (typically of the same element) undergo fluctuations in charge placement due to proximity to another nonpolar molecule. Results in the same shift in electronegativity that is seen in dipole-dipole interactions.

Question 14

Which is weaker: LDF or Dipole-Dipole interactions?

Answer 14

London Dispersion Forces (LDF)

Question 15

List bond strengths from greatest strength to weakest strength:

Answer 15

1. Covalent bonds.
2. Ionic interactions.
3. Hydrogen bonds.
4. Van der Waals Interactions.

Question 16

What is the Hydrophobic effect? How does this impact molecule displacement within an aqueous environment?

Answer 16

The Hydrophobic effect describes the phenomenon in which nonpolar molecules aggregate or associate together within an aqueous environment in order to increase solvent entropy by reducing the amount of nonpolar surface area exposed to polar molecules.