Four Major Groups of Organic Molecules

What are the four groups of organic compounds found in living things?

Carbohydrates, Lipids, Proteins, Nucleic acids

LIPIDS

Large and varied group of biological molecules that are generally not soluble in water - FATS, OILS, and WAXES. Can be used to store energy; some are important parts of biological membranes and waterproof coverings. Stores energy - think fat

CARBOHYDRATES

Made of of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. This is the main source of energy for living things; some plants and some animals use for structural purposes. Fuel and Building material Examples are glucose and glycogen

PROTEINS

Proteins are micro molecules that contain carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. Chemically, protein is composed of one or more chains of small molecules called amino acids. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, and proteins are the building blocks of muscle mass organic catalysts digestive enzymes

What is the process by which macromolecules are formed?

Polmerization

When monomers join together, what do they form?

Polymers

polyscaccharide

Polysaccharides are polymeric carbohydrate structures, formed of repeating units either mono- saccharides( e.g., glucose , fructose , galactose) or disaccharides ( e.g., sucrose, lactose) joined together by glycosidic bonds. They range in structure from linear to highly branched. Examples include storage polysaccharides such as starch and glycogen, and structural polysaccharides such as cellulose and chitin.

NUCLEIC ACIDS

Store and transmit genetic information - there are two types, RNA and DNA Information molecule - molecule of heredity

amino acid

a compound with an amino group (--NH2) on one end and a carboxyl group on the other end (--COOH)

polymer

a large molecule consisting of many identical or similar subunits connected together

monomer

a subunit or building lock molecule of a polymer

nucleotide

contains 3 parts: (1) five carbon sugar molecules, (2) phosphate and (3) nitrogen base

Many of the molecules in living cells are so large they have a name. What are they known as?

macromolecules

deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)

nucleic acid that contains the sugar deoxyribose

ribonucleic acid (RNA)

ribonucleic acid, a nucleic acid present in all living cells. Its principal role is to act as a messenger carrying instructions from DNA for controlling the synthesis of proteins, although in some viruses RNA rather than DNA carries the genetic information.

monosaccharide

single sugar molecules. include glucose (dextrose), fructose (levulose) and galactose. Monosaccharides are the building blocks of disaccharides (such as sucrose and lactose) and polysaccharides (such as cellulose and starch).