Intro to biological macromolecules

Cards (19)

  • Atoms form chemical bonds to be in their lowest-energy form: when they have a full shell of valence electrons
  • Cations
    Positive ions formed by losing electrons
  • Anions
    Negative ions formed by gaining electrons
  • Crystal
    Many atoms/molecules arranged in a repeating, predictable 3D pattern
  • Covalent bonds are more common than ionic bonds in the molecules of living organisms
  • London dispersion forces
    Weak intermolecular bonds that can happen between any two elements when the randomness of an atom's electrons gives one side a partial charge, which goes on to affect the other atoms around it, creating weak bonds
  • Van der Waals forces

    Weak bonds between molecules caused by a temporary charge by random positioning of electrons, otherwise known as London dispersion forces
  • Strong covalent bonds hold together the nucleotides in a strand of DNA so that it stays together
  • Weak hydrogen bonds keep the strands of DNA in a double helix, but can be easily unzipped by helicase
  • The main four types of large biomolecules are:
    • carbohydrates
    • proteins
    • nucleic acids
    • lipids
  • Polymer
    Long chains made up of smaller repeating molecular subunits
  • Monomer
    Small molecular subunit that makes up polymers
  • Lipids
    The only major macromolecule that doesn't tend to form polymers
  • Dehydration synthesis

    When two macromolecules attach themselves to each other by forming a covalent bond, then each releasing atoms that end up forming a water molecule, where this process gets its name
  • Dehydration synthesis
  • Many different polymers with super different functions can be produced from the same basic monomers
  • Hydrolysis
    The reverse of a dehydration synthesis reaction
  • Hydrolysis
    When a polymer breaks into individual monomers again by adding water, which breaks the covalent bonds between them, adding a H ion to one branch and an OH ion to the other
  • hydrolysis reaction