Chapter 3

Question :

What are the organic compounds ?

Organic compounds are carbon based molecules. Carbon is able to form 4 bounds at most. So for example methan's structure is CH4. Another characteristic for carbon is that he's able to create large and diverse molecules. Also the chain of carbon atoms in organic molecules is called a carbon skeleton.

What are the characteristic chemical groups of organic compounds ?

These chemical groups are called functional groups. They have affect on the molecules functions.

Among those functional groups are :

Hydroxyl group - consists of -OH group connected to a carbon skeleton

Carbonyl group - consists of >C=O group connected to a carbon skeleton. There are two types of carbonyl group Aldehyde and Ketone

Carboxyl group - this functional group is -COOH

Amino group - NH2

Phosphate group - OPO3

Methyl group - CH3

What are the different types of macromolecules found in our body ?

The names of these group are lipids, proteins, nucleic acid and carbohydrates.

Lipids are very large molecules composed of glycerol and fatty acid tail. By breaking down the lipids a huge amount of energy is released.

Proteins are polymers constructed from amino acid monomers. The connection between proteins is called peptide bond.

Nucleic acids are very information-rich polymers of nucleotides. We know two types of nucleic acids and those are DNA and RNA.

Carbohydrates also known as saccharides or sugars. Sugar is source of fast energy they don't produce as big amount of energy as lipids but they are really fast.

Diagram :

This diagram shows the basic monosaccharide glucose. Glucose is main saccharide that is contained in most of polysaccharides. It's also part of process called photosynthesis. It's really important sugar.

5facts :

Nucleic acids are very important in giving informations and controlling processes inside the cells and molecules as well as throughout the whole body.

Lactose tolerance is is a recent mutation in the human genome that allows us to drink milk and digest the sugar contained in the milk Lactose.

All functional groups differ in a specific way and also have different function and differ in a way they influence other cells.

Anabolic steroids are synthetic variants of the male hormone testosterone. It causes buildup of muscle and bone mass. They can also be used as prescription drugs. On the other hand it's very often abused mainly by athletes who are trying to gain muscle mass.

Denaturation is a process when protein's loose their specific shape and their function as well.It can be cause due to temperature change, pH change and salt concentration. In some cases this process can't be reversed causing a serious damage.

Key terms :

carbon skeleton - chain of carbon atoms in an organic molecule

organic compounds - carbon-based molecules

monomers - building blocks of polymers

macromolecules - gigantic and four main main classes of large biological molecules

hydrophobic - "afraid of water" molecule doesn't dissolve in water

hydrophilic - "loving water" molecule does dissolve in water

steroids - lipids containing for fused rings. Mainly known as anabolic steroids which are often being abused

saturated lipids - lipids which have maximum number of hydrogens

unsaturated lipids - lipids which don't have a maximum number of hydrogens

enzymes - are specialized macromolecules that speed up chemical reactions in cells.

Video :

Organic compounds

Summarize :

Chapter 3 introduced to us the main compounds, which are carbohydrates, proteins, nucleic acids and lipids. Also it described functional groups and how each of them can completely change function of carbon molecule.