austin journal of bioorganic & organic chemistry

Biochemistry is a branch of science concerned with chemical and physio-chemical processes and substances which occur within living organisms

About 60-90 percent of an organism is water

Water is used in most reactions in the body

Water is called the universal solvent

Polarity

Cohesiveness

Adhesiveness

Surface Tension

Although a cell is mostly water, the rest of the cell consists mostly of carbon-based molecules

Organic chemistry is the study of carbon compounds

Each type of organic molecule has a unique three-dimensional shape

The shape determines its function in an organism

Large molecules are called polymers

Polymers are built from smaller molecules called monomers

Biologists call them macromolecules

Proteins

Lipids

Carbohydrates

Nucleic Acids

There are four categories of large molecules in cells:

Carbohydrates

Lipids

Proteins

Nucleic Acids

Carbohydrates include:

Small sugar molecules in soft drinks

Long starch molecules in pasta and potatoes

Lipids are hydrophobic –”water fearing”

Includes fats, waxes, steroids, & oils

FAT MOLECULE

Fats store energy, which helps to insulate thebody, and cushion and protect organs

Proteins are polymers made of monomerscalled amino acids

All proteins are made of 20 different amino acidslinked in different orders

Proteins are used to build cells, act as hormones& enzymes, and do much of the work in a cell

Stores hereditary information

Contain information for making all the body’s proteins

There are two types of nucleic acids DNA RNA

Nucleic acids are polymers of nucleotides

Phosphate

BaseSugar

Nucleotide

Sugar(deoxyribose)

Phosphategroup

Thymine (T)

Nitrogenous base(A,G,C, or T)

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