Biological molecules key words

• biological molecules


  a group of natural molecules created by and involved in the processes of living things.
• atoms


  the building blocks of chemistry, everything is made of atoms. Atoms come together to form molecules.
• covalent bonding


  bonds formed by the sharing of electrons between the contributing atoms.
• ionic bonding


  bonds formed by the attraction between oppositely charged ions and they transfer of an electron form one to the positive and the negative.
• intermolecular forces


  the forces between molecules of a substance that arise due to polarity and regions of slight opposing charge.
• hydrogen bonding.


  the attraction between hydrogen and electronegative atoms in other molecules, particularly common in water and involves an attraction between electronegative oxygen and electropositive hydrogen.
• macromolecule


  large often complex molecules formed of many component sub-units.
• monomer


  a smaller, simpler molecule that forms the subunit of macromolecules and polymers. They can easily be joined to create long chains.
• polymer


  the result of joining multiple monomers. A long chain like molecule formed of many subunits.
• polymerisation


  a general term for the reaction by which polymers are formed and monomers are joined.
• condensation reactions


  a specific form of polymerisation reaction where the joining of monomers releases a molecule of water.
• hydrolysis


  the reverse of condensation. The addition of water splits polymers back into the original monomers.
• carbon backbone


  the long chain of carbon molecules that runs right through sugar.
• monosaccharides


  the simplest subunit of sugars. the monomer.
• pentose sugar


  a monosaccharide that contains 5 carbons.
• hexose sugar


  a monosaccharide that contains 6 carbons.
• isomerism


  2 molecules that have the same constituent atoms and some molecular formula but the atoms are arranged differently.
• isomer


  the molecules to which isomerism applies, they have the same constituent atoms but different arrangement of these.
• glycosidic bond


  the bond that forms between monosaccharides.
• polysaccharide


  the result of combining 2 or more monosaccharides to create a more complex sugar.
• cellulose


  important in plants, an example of a large polysaccharide. Contains cross-links between chains of beta glucose that increase its strength.
• cross links


  the links that occur between chains of monosaccharides in certain polysaccharides.
• reducing sugar


  the sugar that is able to donate electrons to reduce another substance.
• benedict's reagent


  the blue reagent, contains copper sulfate that we use to test for the presence of sugars.
• qualitative


  tells is something is there or not
• Quantitative


  more in depth and can tell how much is present.