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Color coded: Biochemistry - Carbon Properties

Organic Chemistry:A branch of science dealing with the element Carbon and its many properties.

  • Most compounds found in living things, other than water, is organic.

    • Organic:Anything containing carbon.

  • Carbon helps make 4 major groups of organic macromolecules: Carbohydrates, Lipids, Proteins, and Nucleic Acids.

Important Properties of Carbon for Biology

  • Since carbon has 4 valence electrons, it can form 4 covalent bonds.

  • This allows carbon to bond with a variety of molecules and fork molecules with an almost infinite variety of shapes and functions.

Carbon atoms are small

  • Because carbon is a small atom, its valence electrons are near the nucleus.

  • When carbon forms covalent bonds, the bonds are strong; this makes carbon an excellent building material for life.

Organic Molecules

Polymers:Large chains of building blocks found in macromolecules.

Monomers:Individual building blocks of a polymer

  • These monomers are linked by covalent bonds.

  • Macromolecules are formed by Dehydration Synthesis (also called Condensation) Reactions.

    • Dehydration Synthesis:The process of synthesizing polymers by removing water

    • During these reactions, water is released as a byproduct.

  • Macromolecules are broken apart into individual monomers by Hydrolysis reactions.

    • (“lysis” means “to split”)

    • During these reactions, water is used as a reactant.

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Color coded: Biochemistry - Carbon Properties

Organic Chemistry:A branch of science dealing with the element Carbon and its many properties.

  • Most compounds found in living things, other than water, is organic.

    • Organic:Anything containing carbon.

  • Carbon helps make 4 major groups of organic macromolecules: Carbohydrates, Lipids, Proteins, and Nucleic Acids.

Important Properties of Carbon for Biology

  • Since carbon has 4 valence electrons, it can form 4 covalent bonds.

  • This allows carbon to bond with a variety of molecules and fork molecules with an almost infinite variety of shapes and functions.

Carbon atoms are small

  • Because carbon is a small atom, its valence electrons are near the nucleus.

  • When carbon forms covalent bonds, the bonds are strong; this makes carbon an excellent building material for life.

Organic Molecules

Polymers:Large chains of building blocks found in macromolecules.

Monomers:Individual building blocks of a polymer

  • These monomers are linked by covalent bonds.

  • Macromolecules are formed by Dehydration Synthesis (also called Condensation) Reactions.

    • Dehydration Synthesis:The process of synthesizing polymers by removing water

    • During these reactions, water is released as a byproduct.

  • Macromolecules are broken apart into individual monomers by Hydrolysis reactions.

    • (“lysis” means “to split”)

    • During these reactions, water is used as a reactant.

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