BIOLOGICAL MOLECULES

Living matter is made up of a number of important types of molecules, including proteins, lipids
and carbohydrates.
• All three types of molecule contain carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms; proteins also contain
nitrogen and sometimes phosphorus or sulfur.
Carbohydrates
All carbohydrates contain the elements: carbon, hydrogen and oxygen only. A commonly
occurring simple sugar is glucose (monosaccharide) and has the chemical formula C H O . .
6 12 6

Carbohydrates may be simple, soluble sugars(glucose) or complex materials like starch and
cellulose.
The glucose molecule is often in the form of a ring,

Glucose molecule

Sugars with a single carbon ring are called monosaccharides, e.g. glucose and fructose.
Two molecules of glucose can be combined to form a molecule of maltose Two molecules of
glucose can be combined to form a molecule of maltose CHO12 22 11

Formation of maltose

glucose glucose maltose water

Those sugars with two carbon rings in their molecules are called disaccharides, e.g. maltose and
sucrose.
N.B. Mono- and disaccharides are readily soluble in water.
When many glucose molecules are joined together, the carbohydrate is called a polysaccharide.
Glycogen is a polysaccharide that forms a food storage substance in many animal cells. The
starch molecule is made up of hundreds of glucose molecules joined together to form long
chains.

Starch is an important storage substance in plant cells.

Cellulose consists of even longer chains of glucose molecules.
The chain molecules are grouped together to form the
cell wall in plant cells.
micrograph of a plant cell wall (×20 000)
showing the cellulose fibres
PROTEINS
There are many different types of protein, all contain carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen,
and many contain sulfur. Their molecules are made up of long chains of simpler chemicals called
amino acids

part of
protein molecule)

Some proteins contribute to the structures of the

cell, e.g. to the cell membranes, the mitochondria, ribosomes and chromosomes. These proteins
are called structural proteins.
There is another group of proteins called enzymes. Enzymes control the chemical reactions that
keep the cell alive
FATS
Fats are a solid form of a group of molecules called lipids. When lipids are liquid they are known
as oils. Fats and oils are formed from carbon, hydrogen and oxygen only. A molecule of fat (or
oil) is made up of three molecules of an organic acid, called a fatty acid, combined with one
molecule of glycerol.

Fat molecule

Lipids form part of the cell membrane and the internal membranes of the cell such as the
nuclear membrane. Droplets of fat or oil form a source of energy when stored in the cytoplasm.
VITAMINS
Plants can make their own vitamins. Animals have to obtain many of their vitamins ready-made.
Vitamins, or substances derived from them, play a part in chemical reactions in cells. One
example of a vitamin is ascorbic acid (vitamin C).
WATER
Most cells contain about 75% water and will die if their water content falls much below this.
Water is a good solvent and many substances move about the cells in a watery solution.
FOOD TESTS
There are different tests which can be used to detect carbohydrates, proteins and lipids.
They involve adding a reagent to a food sample which changes colour depending on what
biological molecules are present.
Sometimes it may be necessary to crush the food or add water to the food before adding the
reagent.
Test for vitamin C
■ Draw up 2 cm3 fresh lemon juice into a plastic syringe.
■ Add this juice drop by drop to 2 cm3 of a 0.1% solution of DCPIP (a blue dye) in a test-tube.
The DCPIP will become colourless quite suddenly as the juice is added. The amount of juice
added from the syringe should be noted down.
■ Repeat the experiment but with orange juice in the syringe. If it takes more orange juice
than lemon juice to decolourise the DCPIP, the orange juice must contain less vitamin C.
N.B. APPLICATION OF THE FOOD TESTS
The tests can be used on samples of food such as milk, potato, raisins, onion, beans, egg-yolk
or peanuts to find out what food materials are present. The solid samples are crushed in a
mortar and shaken with warm water to extract the soluble products.
Separate samples of the watery mixture of crushed food are tested for starch, glucose or
protein as described above. To test for fats, the food must first be crushed in ethanol, not
water, and then filtered. The clear filtrate is poured into water to see if it goes cloudy,
indicating the presence of fats.
Testing for protein
Testing for fat