CHAPTER 5

THE STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION

OF MACROMOLECULES

Section A: Polymer principles

1. Most macromolecules are polymers
2. An immense variety of polymers can be built from a small set of monomers

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Introduction
• Cells join smaller organic molecules together to
form larger molecules.
• These larger molecules, macromolecules, may be
composed of thousands of atoms and weigh over
100,000 daltons.
• The four major classes of macromolecules are:
carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids.

Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings

1. Most macromolecules are polymers
• Three of the four classes of macromolecules form
chainlike molecules called polymers.
• Polymers consist of many similar or identical building
blocks linked by covalent bonds.
• The repeated units are small molecules called
monomers.
• Some monomers have other functions of their own.

Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings

• The chemical mechanisms that cells use to make and
break polymers are similar for all classes of
macromolecules.
• Monomers are connected by covalent bonds via a
condensation reaction or dehydration reaction.
• One monomer provides
a hydroxyl group and
the other provides a
hydrogen and together
these form water.
• This process requires
energy and is aided
by enzymes.
Fig. 5.2a
Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings
• The covalent bonds connecting monomers in a
polymer are disassembled by hydrolysis.
• In hydrolysis as the covalent bond is broken a hydrogen
atom and hydroxyl group from a split water molecule
attaches where the covalent bond used to be.
• Hydrolysis reactions
dominate the
digestive process,
guided by specific
enzymes.

Fig. 5.2b

Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings

2. An immense variety of polymers can be
built from a small set of monomers
• Each cell has thousands of different macromolecules.
• These molecules vary among cells of the same individual,
even more among unrelated individuals of a species, and
are even greater between species.
• This diversity comes from various combinations of
the 40-50 common monomers and other rarer ones.
• These monomers can be connected in various
combinations like the 26 letters in the alphabet can be
used to create a great diversity of words.
• Biological molecules are even more diverse.

Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings