Chemistry of Life

1. Property of Molecule
 Polarity – Dipole moment of molecule
 Cohesion – Attraction between same molecule
 Adhesion – Attraction between different molecule
 Density – Mass / Volume
 Specific Heat Capacity – Heat required to rise 1 gram of molecule by 1 ºC
 Heat of Vaporization – Energy required to change 1 gram of liquid to it’s gas state
at constant temperature

2. Property of Water
 Polar
 Good solvent
 High Heat Capacity
 High Heat of Vaporization
 Cohesive & Adhesive
 Less dense as solid than liquid
 Autoionization

3. Common Molecules of Life

 DNA (nucleic acids), RNA (ribonucleic acid), ATP (adenosine triphosphate)
o Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen, and Phosphorous
 Protein (amino acid)
o Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen, and Sulfur
 Glucose, Lipid
o Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen

4. Dehydration synthesis (condensation reaction)

  Nucleophilic Attack
o Link C & O of two sugar while losing hydrogen
 Forming Disaccharid (or Polysaccharid) from Monosaccharid
o - saccharid = sugar in greek
 E.g. Maltose (Disaccharid)
 E.g. Starch in plant (Polysaccharid)
 E.g. Glycogen (Polysaccharid)
 E.g. Cellulose (Polysaccharid)
 General in chemistry idea
o Monomer to Polymer

5. Hydrolysis
 Break down Polymer by water
o Autoionization, partial charge, and lone pairs of H2O

6. Structure of DNA
 Deoxyribonucleic acid
o Deoxyribo
 Ribose (sugar) with 1 less oxygen
o Nucleic – Nitrogenous base
 2 rings: purines (Adenine & Guanine)
 1 ring: pyrimadmes (Thymine & Cytosine)
 Base pairs (connected by hydrogen bond)
a. Adenine + Thymine
b. Guanine + Cytosine
o Acid
 Phosphate acid
 Two Backbones + Base pairs
o Backbone 1 – Ribose
o Backbone 2 – Phosphate acid
 o Base pairs – Nitrogenous base
 Hydrogen bond
o Antiparallel + Double Helix

7. Structure of RNA (vs. DNA)

 Ribose instead of deoxyribo
o One more oxygen and hydrogen in five-carbon sugar
 Uracil instead of Thymine
o Remove a methyl group from Thymine
o Uracil makes RNA unstable

 mRNA (message RNA)

o Left: RNA backbone
o Right: DNA backbone
o Functioning during transcription
 tRNA (transfer RNA)
o Anticodon in one end + amino acid in one end
 rRNA (Ribosomal RNA)
o Play a structural role
 microRNA
o Short chains of RNA
o Regulate translation
 Some believe: DNA evolved from RNA

8. Structure of Amino Acid

 Formation of Proteins
o Amino acid is the building block of Protein
o The shape and type of amino acid decide function of this protein
  Structure
o NH2: Amino
o HCO2: carboxyl group (acidic)
o Alpha Carbon: The C in the middle
o The “R” makes different Amino acid
o Example
 Serine, Valine
 Amino acid connects to form peptide by peptide bond
 Zwitterion
o Hybrid charge
o Ion with both positive and negative charge (NH2 = positive, HCO2 =
negative)
 Neutral overall

9. Structure of Protein
 Primary Structure
o Order of amino acids
o Bounch of stright lines
 Secondary Structure
o Due to interaction of the backbone between amino acids
o Parallel or anit-parallel or alpha-helix
o Form Beta-Pleated Sheet
 Third Structure (Tertiary)
o Due to side chain interaction

 Quaternary Structure
o Arrangement of multiple peptide chains

10. Structure of Carbohydrates (or Saccharide)

  Monosaccharide (glucose) // monomer
 Polysaccharide (glycogen) // polymer
 Source of energy
 Structural role
 Composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen

11. Structure of Triglycerides (fat or oil or Triacylglycerol)

 Glycerol reacts with three fatty acid
o Lone pairs in Glycerol bonding with electropositive carbon in carboxyl
 Dehydration synthesis
 Glycerol - Sugar alcohol
 Fatty acid
o Carboxyl group
o Carbon chain
 Saturated/unsaturated fat
o Saturated – only singly bond (all carbon connecting to hydrogen as
much as possible)
 Dense
 Solid in room temperature
 Bad fat
o Unsaturated – some double bond between carbon
 Less dense
 Liquid in room temperature
 Mono or Poly unsaturated