Carbon Chemistry and Carbohydrate Macromolecules pt 2

Vocabulary flashcards covering carbon chemistry, macromolecule formation, and the structure and function of carbohydrates based on lecture notes.

Organic Chemistry

The study of carbon compounds, which range from simple molecules to complex ones.

Valence of Carbon

Carbon has four valence electrons, allowing it to form single, double, triple, or quadruple bonds and giving it covalent compatibility with many different elements.

Macromolecules

Large organic molecules found in living things that serve as the building blocks of life and are made from smaller molecules.

Organic Molecule

A molecule that contains carbon and is usually associated with living things.

Monomers

Small units or small molecules that cells join together to synthesize macromolecules.

Polymers

Large macromolecules defined as a long chain of repeating subunits (monomers) joined together.

Dehydration Reaction (Condensation)

A chemical reaction in which large molecules (polymers) are synthesized from smaller molecules with the release of water.

Hydrolysis Reaction

A chemical reaction that breaks down a large molecule (polymer) into smaller molecules (monomers) using and requiring water.

Carbohydrates

Biological molecules composed of elements $C$, $H$, and $O$ that serve as fuel and building material, serving as the main source of quick energy in bodies and functioning structurally.

Monosaccharides

The simplest sugars with the molecular formula $(CH_2O)_n$ that consist of a single sugar unit and can exist in linear or ring forms.

Glucose Ring Formation

The reaction favored by chemical equilibrium in which carbon 1 of the linear form bonds to the oxygen attached to carbon 5 to create a ring.

Disaccharides

Carbohydrates consisting of two monosaccharides joined by a glycosidic bond through a dehydration (condensation) reaction.

Anomeric Carbon

The first carbon of the sugar ring whose attached hydroxyl ($-OH$) group's orientation defines an alpha or beta glycosidic bond upon joining another molecule.

Alpha ($\alpha$) Glycosidic Bond

A linkage formed when the $-OH$ group on the first sugar's anomeric carbon points down (below the plane of the ring).

Beta ($\beta$) Glycosidic Bond

A linkage formed when the $-OH$ group on the first sugar's anomeric carbon points up (above the plane of the ring).

Maltose

A disaccharide composed of glucose + glucose joined by a 1-4 glycosidic link between the number 1 carbon of one glucose and the number 4 carbon of the second glucose.

Sucrose

A disaccharide composed of glucose + fructose joined by a 1-2 glycosidic linkage.

Lactose

A disaccharide composed of galactose + glucose.

Polysaccharides

Polymers composed of many sugar units (monomers) joined together that serve storage and structural roles in organisms.

Starch

A plant storage polysaccharide consisting entirely of $\alpha$-glucose monomers with 1-4 linkages, existing as a mixture of amylose and amylopectin.

Glycogen

The major storage form of glucose in animals, consisting of $\alpha$-glucose monomers.

Cellulose

A structural polysaccharide made of $\beta$-glucose monomers with 1-4 linkages that serves as a major component of tough plant cell walls.

Microfibrils

Bundles formed by tightly cross-linked cellulose molecules, held together by hydrogen bonds in bundles called fibres.