Types of Chemical Bonds in Biology

Vocabulary flashcards covering the types of chemical bonds, their descriptions, and where they are found in biological molecules and structures.

Polar Covalent Bond

A bond characterized by the uneven sharing of electrons, where electrons spend more time around the $O$ atom, giving it a partial negative charge and leaving $H$ atoms with a partial positive charge; found between $H$s and $O$ in a single water molecule.

Hydrogen Bond

A bond found between water molecules (mediating cohesion, surface tension, liquid and solid ice), between water and other substances (adhesion), between nitrogenous bases of DNA, and stabilizing secondary, tertiary, and quaternary protein structures.

Covalent Bond

A bond characterized by the sharing of electrons; found connecting the monomers of macromolecules through glycosidic, peptide, ester, and phosphodiester linkages.

Ionic Bond

A bond formed by the transfer of electrons; found in salts between a metal and a nonmetal, and between positively and negatively charged amino acids in tertiary and quaternary protein structures.

Disulfide Bridges

Covalent bonds formed between the sulfur atoms of two cysteine amino acids in the tertiary and quaternary structures of proteins.

Cohesion

The interaction mediated by hydrogen bonds forming between water molecules, responsible for surface tension as well as the states of liquid and solid ice.

Adhesion

The interaction resulting from hydrogen bonds forming between water molecules and other substances.