Key Concepts in Biochemistry and Water Properties

Flashcards covering essential vocabulary and definitions related to biochemistry and the properties of water.

Biochemistry

The study of the chemical processes and substances that occur within living organisms.

Universal Solvent

Water's ability to dissolve and interact with a wide variety of substances.

Polarity

The property of a molecule that results from the unequal sharing of electrons, causing a positive and negative end.

Hydrogen Bonding

Weak interactions that occur between a hydrogen atom covalently bonded to an electronegative atom and another electronegative atom.

Hydrophilic

Describes compounds that dissolve easily in water; generally charged or polar.

Hydrophobic

Nonpolar molecules that do not dissolve in water; also known as water-fearing.

Amphipathic

Compounds containing both polar (or charged) regions and nonpolar regions.

Bond Energy

The average amount of energy required to break a bond; energy is absorbed when bonds break and released when they form.

Micelles

Thermodynamically stable structures formed by amphipathic compounds in water, where nonpolar regions cluster together.

Noncovalent Interactions

Weaker interactions than covalent bonds, important for the stability of macromolecular structures.

Polar covalent bonds

Unequal sharing of electrons between O and H and Creates a charge across the bond (dipole)

Formation

When a bond forms, energy is released.

Breakage

When a bond breaks, energy is absorbed

Hydrogen Bonds req.

Hydrogen must be attached to a very electronegative atom • N, O, or F

hydrogen bonds readily form between an electronegative atom (the hydrogen acceptor) and a hydrogen atom covalently bonded to another electronegative atom (the hydrogen donor)

hydrophobic effect

nonpolar regions cluster together

polar regions arrange to maximize interactions with each other and with the solvent

van der Waals interactions (London dispersion forces)

Distance-dependent weak attractions and repulsions between transient dipoles

van der Waals radius:

measure of how close an atom will allow another to approach

cytochrome f

has a chain of five bound H2O molecules

may provide a path for protons to move through the membrane