Carbon and the Molecular Diversity of Life

Importance of Carbon

  • Organic chemistry: branch of chemistry that specializes in study of carbon compounds
  • Organic compounds: contain Carbon (& H)
  • Major elements of life: C, H, N, O, P, S
  • Carbon can form large, complex, and diverse molecules

Diversity of Carbon

  1. It has 4 valence electrons (tetravalence)

  2. It can form up to 4 covalent bonds

    1. Most frequent bonding partners: H, O, N
  3. Bonds can be single, double, or triple covalent bonds.

  4. Carbon can form large molecules

    1. 4 classes of macromolecules: carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, nucleic acids
  5. Molecules can be chains, ring-shaped, or branched

  6. Forms isomers

    1. Isomers: molecules have same molecular formula, but differ in atom arrangement

      1. Different structures 🡪 Different properties/functions

Functional Groups

  • Behavior of organic molecules depends on functional groups
  • Most common functional groups:
    • Hydroxyl
    • Carbonyl
    • Carboxyl
    • Amino
    • Sulfhydryl
    • Phosphate
    • Methyl