Transcript Macromolecules - RMC Science Home

The Chemistry of Life
What are living
creatures made of?
Why do we have
to eat?
Elements of Life
• 96% of living
organisms is made
of:
 carbon (C)
 oxygen (O)
 hydrogen (H)
 nitrogen (N)
Molecules of Life
• Put C, H, O, N together in different
ways to build living organisms
• What are bodies made of?
–carbohydrates
• sugars & starches
–proteins
–fats (lipids)
–nucleic acids
• DNA, RNA
Why do we eat?
• We eat to take in more of these chemicals
–Food for building materials
• to make more of us (cells)
• for growth
• for repair
–Food to make energy
• calories
• to make ATP
ATP
Don’t forget water
• Water
– 70% of your body is H2O
– water is inorganic
• doesn’t contain carbon
• Rest of you is made of carbon molecules
– organic molecules
•
•
•
•
carbohydrates
proteins
fats
nucleic acids
How do we make these molecules?
We build them!
2006-2007
Building large molecules of life
• Chain together smaller molecules
–building block molecules = monomers
• Big molecules built from little molecules
–polymers
Building large organic molecules
• Small molecules = building blocks
• Bond them together = polymers
What do we call these large
molecules?
• Macromolecules
–Large molecules sometimes
composed of a large number of
repeating subunits
Building important polymers
Carbohydrates = built from sugars
sugar – sugar – sugar – sugar – sugar – sugar
Proteins = built from amino acids
amino amino amino amino amino amino
acid – acid – acid – acid – acid – acid
Nucleic acids (DNA) = built from nucleotides
nucleotide – nucleotide – nucleotide – nucleotide
A Few Definitions
Anabolic reactions:
–Reactions that produce large molecules
from smaller subunits
Condensation reactions:
–Reaction that creates a covalent bond
between two interacting subunits linking
them to each other
A Few Definitions
Catabolic reactions:
–Reactions that break macromolecules
into constituent individual subunits
Hydrolysis reactions:
–A catabolic reaction in which a water
molecules is used to break a covalent
bond holding subunits together
How to build large molecules
• Synthesis (condensation rxn)
–H from one –OH group and an entire –OH
from another molecule create water
(condensation)
–Water is made
–ATP is stored
How to build large molecules
• Synthesis (condensation rxn)
–building bigger molecules from smaller
molecules (anabolic reaction)
–building cells & bodies (repair, growth,
reproduction)
+
ATP
How to take large molecules apart
• Digestion (hydrolysis reaction)
–Reverse rxn of synthesis
–a water molecule is used
–energy is released
–taking big molecules apart (catabolic
reaction)
How to take large molecules apart
• Digestion (hydrolysis reaction)
–getting raw materials
• for synthesis & growth
–making energy (ATP)
• for synthesis, growth & everyday
functions
+
ATP
Example of digestion
ATP
ATP
ATP
ATP
ATP
starch
ATP
glucose
ATP
• Starch is digested to glucose
Example of synthesis
amino acids
protein
 Proteins are synthesized by bonding amino acids
amino acids = building block
protein = polymer
Any
Questions?
Penguins
gone bad!