Our definition of a nucleic acid is very similar to the definition we gave for proteins. While proteins are coiled up chains of amino acids, nucleic acids are coiled up chains of nucleotides. The sequence of nucleotides determines the RNA which determines DNA which determines protein structure. What is a nucleotide? A nucleotide consists of a base, sugar and phosphate group. The nitrogenous base is attached to a 5-carbon-sugar (ribose or deoxyribose) and attached to the sugar is a … [Read more...] about Organic Compound #4: Nucleic Acids
organic compound
Organic Compound #3: Proteins
A protein is like a coiled up messed up slinky made of hundreds of amino acids. When you join these amino acids, it's commonly called a polypeptide chain. These coil up to create a three dimensional chain. How are amino acids joined together? They are joined together by a dehydration synthesis reaction. Conversely they are broken apart by water through a hydrolysis reaction. (Where else did we hear this? During our carb talk, we learned how this is how sucrose is made from glucose and … [Read more...] about Organic Compound #3: Proteins
Organic Compound #2: Lipids
The second class of organic molecules are lipids or fats. The most important characteristic of them is that they are insoluble in water. Think of butter or vegetable oil. The oil or fat will float to the surface of water. When we look at the chemical structure, lipids look like a long chain of carbon atoms with a whole lot of hydrogen atoms attached. When you break these hydrocarbon and carbon-carbon bonds, they release energy measured in calories. Fats contain more calories of energy than … [Read more...] about Organic Compound #2: Lipids
Organic Compound #1: Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are sugars. Sugars are carbohydrates. Saccharide means sugar. We commonly divide carbs into three classes: 1. Monosaccharides (means one sugar) 2. Disaccharides (made of two single sugars, snapped together) 3. Polysaccharides (many sugars snapped together) There's hundreds of types of these but we're going to go over just a few examples of each. Five examples of Monosaccharides The first two examples are 5-carbon atoms long: Ribose and Deoxyribose. Ribose is found in … [Read more...] about Organic Compound #1: Carbohydrates