Biochemistry This is a typical protein….. 1000’s of amino acids covalently bonded together into a knot like structure we call a globular shape.

Organic Molecules Organic molecules are molecules composed of carbon and hydrogen, and often containing other elements such as phosphorus, oxygen and nitrogen, but always carbon and hydrogen. Bio- chemicals are those chemicals important to living organisms and consist of organic an inorganic molecules. For example , water is a bio-chemical , but not an organic molecule. The primary focus in this section are those bio-chemicals that are organic. The major classes of organic bio chemicals: Carbohydrates Amino Acids and Proteins Lipids ATP Nucleic Acids This short presentation does not address ATP , Nucleic Acids, or most of the Lipid information. You will need to refer to your notes, my notes , your study guide and the reference material that I have given you for that information.

Carbohydrates There are two types of carbohydrates: The simple sugars Glucose, sucrose, fructose (and many others) The complex carbohydrates. Carbohydrates that are made of long chains of sugars Starches, cellulose, glycogen ( cellulose is commonly referred to as fiber and starch is known as amylose. Both polymers are made by plants)

Simple Sugars Glucose Fructose All carbohydrates are made up of units of sugar (also called saccharide units). Carbohydrates generally contain Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen in a ratio of 1:2:1 Carbohydrates that contain only one sugar unit are called monosaccharides. Glucose and Fructose are examples ( note the “ose” ending) Glucose Fructose

Simple Sugars Disaccharides have two sugar units bonded together. ( It is still only one molecule… note the covalent bond between the two sugars with oxygen) For example, common table sugar is sucrose (below), a disaccharide that consists of a glucose unit bonded to a fructose unit. 

Complex Carbohydrates Glycogen, another polymer of glucose, is a polysaccharide used by animals to store energy. Both starch and glycogen are polymers of glucose. Starch is a long, straight chain of glucose units, whereas glycogen is a branched chain of glucose units.

Complex Carbohydrates Starch (below) is a polymer of the monosaccharide glucose (n is the number of repeating glucose units and ranges in the 1,000's). Starches and cellulose are complex carbohydrates used by plants for energy storage and structural integrity. The brackets indicate the “monomer” that gets repeated in the polymer

Complex Carbohydrates Complex carbohydrates are polymers of the simple sugars.  In other words, the complex carbohydrates are long chains of simple sugar units bonded together. For this reason the complex carbohydrates are often referred to as polysaccharides. 

Proteins Proteins are large molecules that may consist of hundreds, or even thousands of amino acids. Proteins are important in cell structure, and as enzymes, (which we all know speed up reactions and lower activation energies in the body) Many antibodies, which fight infection, are protein molecules that are coded for by DNA

Proteins Proteins are polymers of amino acids. Amino acids all have the general structure: The R in the diagram represents a functional group that varies depending on the specific amino acid in question. There are 20 amino acids.

Twenty amino acids in human metabolism Note the amine and carboxyl functional groups

Proteins When many amino acids bond together to create long chains, the structure is called a polypeptide because it contains many peptide bonds. Polypeptides form proteins.

Insulin is a protein

Fats Fats are a sub-group of compounds known as lipids that are found in the body and have the general property of being hydrophobic (meaning they are insoluble in water). Other lipids include waxes, and steroids, such as cholesterol.

Fats Glycerol Fatty acids Triglyceride Fats are also known as triglycerides, molecules made from the combination of one molecule of glycerol with three fatty acids. “R” is a long chain of carbon and hydrogen Glycerol Fatty acids Triglyceride

Fatty Acids: Please refer to notes, reference material and your study for all the details about fatty acids that you need to know.