Metabolism

Question 1

Group transfer reactions

Answer 1

Attachment of a good leaving group to a metabolic intermediate to “activate it”
“activate” = raise free energy (less stable)

Question 2

Internal rearrangement / Isomerization

Answer 2

Electrons = redistributed without changing the overall oxidation state of the molecule

Question 3

Oxidation reduction reactions

Answer 3

• Oxidation reactions release energy
• Transfer of electrons to a terminal oxygen leads to the production of ATP (this is the goal catabolism)

Question 4

Why is ATP the energy currency of the cell?

Answer 4

• Phosphoryl groups on ATP = good activators / good leaving groups and can be transferred to molecules activating them so that they can carry out chemical reactions
• Released phosphate groups are stabilized by resonance