Topic 1 - Biological Molecules Flashcards
Name 3 monosaccharides
Glucose, amino acids and nucleotides
What are monosaccharides?
Monomers
What are polymers?
Molecules made up of many monomers joined together
How are monomers join together?
By chemical bond in a condensation reaction Whereby a water molecule is eliminated
What reaction is the opposite of a condensation reaction and what happens in it?
Hydrolysis is where water is added to break a chemical bond between two molecules
What three elements make up carbohydrates
Carbon hydrogen and oxygen
What are carbohydrates?
Long chains of sugar units called saccharides
What is a single monomer and a pair of monomers of carbohydrates called
Monosaccharide
Disaccharide
What do you get by combining many monosaccharides together?
The formation of a polysaccharide, which are joined together by a glycosidic bond Formed in a condensation reaction
What is the main substrate for respiration?
The monosaccharide: glucose
How many carbon atoms are in glucose?
Six
What are the isomers of glucose?
Alpha (H on top) and beta (OH on top)
Three. Examples of monosaccharides.
Glucose galactose fructose
General formula for monosaccharides
(CH2O)n
n is between 3 -7
Three Common disaccharides, and how they are formed
Maltose - condensation of two glucose molecules
Sucrose - condensation of glucose in fructose
Lactose - condensation of glucose and galactose.
How are polysaccharides formed?
From many glucose units join together
Three examples are polysaccharides
Glycogen , starch and cellulose
How is glycogen and starch formed?
By the condensation of alpha glucose
Glycogen : 1, 4 and 1, 6 glycosidic bonds
How is Celulose formed?
Condensation of beta glucose
Why is it useful that glycogen has a large number of sidebranches
Energy can be released quickly as enzymes can act simultaneously on the branches
Describe the glycogen polysaccharide molecule
Large and compact, therefore, maximising the amount of energy it can store
Insoluble, so it doesn’t affect the water potential of cells and cannot diffuse out of cells by osmosis
What does starch stores and what is it a mixture of?
Stores energy in plants and is a mixture of two polysaccharides called amylose and amylopectin
What is amylose?
Unbranched chains of glucose molecules joined by 1, 4 glycosidic bonds
Coiled, when is very compact, storeroom lots of energy
What is amylopectin?
