Chemical Elements

Most of the molecules in living organisms fall into three

categories: carbohydrates, proteins and lipids.
These all contain carbon and so are described as organic molecules.
 BIOLOGICAL MOLECULES
All important biological molecules contain carbon

All molecules that contain carbon are called organic (except for CO2).
All other molecules are .

• The major classes of biological molecules that are important for all living
things are carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids.
• Large biological molecules are called macromolecules
• Macromolecules are built by combining smaller building blocks into
polymers.
 Monomer and polymer

• Monomers are small molecules, mostly organic, that can join

with other similar molecules to form very large molecules, or
polymers.
• Polymers are a class of synthetic substances composed of
multiples of simpler units called monomers.
Polymers are chains with an unspecified number of monomeric units.
Carbohydrates
Commonly occuring simple sugar is glucose, which has
the chemical formula

Glucose is often in the form of a ring represented as;

• They are used as a source of energy for the body. There are three types of
carbohydrates:
Monosaccharides, disaccharides, and polysaccharides.
• Monosaccharides (i.e. glucose) are the most simplest form of sugars(single
carbon ring). They are a single unit and they cannot be broken down any
further to make a more simpler sugar.
• Disacchardies are literally two monosaccharides joined together.(Two
carbon rong combined together)
• Polysaccharides are large chains of monosaccharides joined together.
• (Many Two carbon rong combined together)
o (Polysaccharides (large carbohydrates) are polymers of monosaccharides)
o Polysaccharides are insoluble and therefore useful as storage molecules.
• Starch is a polysaccharide made of large chains of glucose and glycogen
• Cellulose is a polysaccharide made of large chains of glucose .
Monosaccharide Polysaccharide

Disaccharide
Fats/oils
Fats are made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen.
The oxygen content is lower than in carbohydrates. Fats have various purposes in the body:
•Source of energy. In fact, they have two times higher energy content than carbohydrates!
•Heat insulation
•Myelin sheath formation
•Cell membrane formation
Fats are made up of three fatty acid units attached to a single unit of glycerol.

•Their basic unit is one glycerol molecule chemically

bonded to three fatty acid chains
•The fatty acids vary in size and structure
•Lipids are divided into fats (solids at room temperature)
and oils (liquids at room temperature)
 Proteins
All proteins contain carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitorogen ans many contain sulfur.

They are extremely important to the body and serve many different functions. here are a
few:
•Growth
•Tissue repair
•Cell membrane formation
•Source of energy
• Proteins are formed from long chains of amino acids
• There are 20 different amino acids
• When amino acids are joined together a protein is formed
• Amino acids can be arranged in any order, resulting in hundreds of
thousands of different proteins
Examples of proteins include enzymes, haemoglobin, ligaments and
keratin
• Proteins are polypeptides - polymers of amino acids
• Proteins serve as enzymes (biological catalysts), for defense, transport,
support, motion, regulation, and storage.
• Proteins are polymers of amino acids joined through peptide bonds.
• A polymer of amino acids is called a polypeptide.
Protein shape
• Different proteins have different amino acid sequences resulting in them being different
shapes.
• Even a small difference in the amino acid sequence will result in a
completely different protein being formed
• The different sequences of amino acids cause the polypeptide chains to fold in different
ways and this gives rise to the different shapes of proteins

For example: Consider amino acids A B C D and E. The hyphens represent a chemical bond between
the amino acids.

Protein 1: A-B-C-D-E
Protein 2: A-C-B-D-E
In the example above, protein 1 has amino acids A through to E joined in order. Protein 2 on the other
hand, has a slightly different amino acid sequence. Just from this slight difference in amino acid order,
protein 2 will be completely different from protein 1 in terms of its function and structure. This is super
important for you to understand.
• It is really important to understand here that the final 3D structure of a protein is derived
from the specific interactions between amino acids that are joined in the protein chain.

• The sequence of amino acids in the chain

therefore creates the final shape of the protein,
and the shape is what gives the protein its
function.
• There are about 20 different amino acids in animal proteins,
including alanine, leucine, valine, glutamine, cysteine, glycine and
lysine.
• A small protein molecule might be made up from a chain consisting
of a hundred or so amino acids, e.g. glycine–valine–valine–
cysteine–leucine–glutamine–, etc.
• Each type of protein has its amino acids arranged in a particular
sequence.
For example:

• Enzymes have a specifically shaped active site – this is where a specific substrate molecule fits in order
for a reaction to take place. If the shape of the active site does not match the shape of the molecule that fits
into it, the reaction will not take place.
• Antibodies are proteins produced by certain types of white
blood cells that attach to antigens on the surface of
pathogens.
• The shape of the antibody must match the shape of the
antigen so that it can attach to it and signal it for destruction

• Every protein has a unique 3-D

shape that enables it to carry out its
function
• The shape of a protein determines its
function.
When a protein is heated to temperatures over 50 °C, the cross-linkages in its molecules break down; the protein
molecules lose their shape and will not usually regain it even when cooled.

 A familiar example of heat-caused denaturation are the changes observed in the albumin protein of egg whites when
they are cooked. When an egg is first cracked open, the "whites" are translucent and runny (they flow like a liquid), but
upon heating they harden and turn white. The change in viscosity and color is an indication that the proteins have been
denatured.

A small imaginary protein

made from only fi ve
different kinds of amino
acid. Note that cross-
linkage occurs between
cysteine molecules with the
aid of sulfur atoms.

alanine, valine, cysteine, serine, glycine and lysine.

Vitamins: This is a category of substances which, in their chemical structure at
least, have little in common.
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 – for
example those which involve a transfer of energy from one compound to another.
If cells are not supplied with vitamins or the substances needed to make them, the cell
physiology is thrown out of order and the whole organism suffers.

Water is essential to the human body for many things. One of these things being the
fact that water is an important solvent. This means that nutrients and wastes can be dissolved
in water so that it can be transported around the body. Moreover, majority of our chemical
reactions inside our bodies are controlled by enzymes. Enzymes cannot work unless it is in
solution (i.e. in the presence of water).
1. Water molecules take part in a great many vital chemical reactions. For example, in green plants, water
combines with carbon dioxide to form sugar.
2. In animals, water helps to break down and dissolve food molecules.
3. Blood is made up of cells and a liquid called plasma. This plasma is 92% water and acts as a transport
medium for many dissolved substances, such as carbon dioxide, urea, digested food and hormones. Blood
cells are carried around the body in the plasma.
4. Water also acts as a transport medium in plants. Water passes up the plant from the roots to the leaves in
xylem vessels and carries with it dissolved mineral ions. Phloem vessels transport sugars and amino acids in
solution from the leaves to their places of use or storage.
5. Water plays an important role in excretion in animals. It acts as a powerful solvent for excretory materials,
such as nitrogenous molecules like urea, as well as salts, spent hormones and drugs. The water has a
diluting effect, reducing the toxicity of the excretory materials.
6. The physical and chemical properties of water differ from those of most other liquids but make it uniquely
effective in supporting living activities. For example, water has a high capacity for heat (high thermal
capacity). This means that it can absorb a lot of heat without its temperature rising to levels that damage
the proteins in the cytoplasm.
7. Water freezes at 0 °C most cells are damaged if their temperature falls below this and ice crystals form in
the cytoplasm. (Oddly enough, rapid freezing of cells in liquid nitrogen at below –196 °C does not
harm them).
 Nucleic acids
Nucleic acids are the repositories and carriers of information. All the information needed to
make living things work is contained in nucleic acids. Nucleic acids also transmit the
information needed to make living things work.
• The information contained in the DNA makes organisms what they are. Two types of nucleic acids
• DNA - deoxyribonucleic acid RNA - ribonucleic acid (Both are polymers of nucleotides)
• It contains the information that makes living things what they are.
• The information in DNA is expressed through the production proteins.
• The difference between any two living things is the result of
differences in the proteins they synthesize and the DNA that
contains the information for synthesizing them.

• DNA has a double helix structure whereby two strands are

coiled together. Each strands have chemicals called bases. The
double helix is held together via pairs of bases that are
attracted to each other from one strand to the other.
• Bases will always pair up in the same way. Adenine (A) will
always pair with Thymine (T). Cytosine (C) will always pair
with Guanine (G). The diagram above demonstrates this
pairing (i.e. green is always bonded to purple and pink is
always bonded to blue).
A DNA molecule is made up of long chains of nucleotides, formed into two strands. A
nucleotide is a 5-carbon sugar molecule joined to a phosphate group (–PO3) and an organic
base In DNA the sugar is deoxyribose and the organic base is either adenine (A), thymine
(T), cytosine (C) or guanine (G).
The nucleotides are joined by their
phosphate groups to form a long
chain, often thousands of
nucleotides long. The phosphate
and sugar molecules are the same
all the way down the chain but the
bases may be any one of the four .
• The DNA in a chromosome consists of two
strands (chains of nucleotides) held together
by chemical bonds between the bases.
• The size of the molecules ensures that A
(adenine) always pairs with T (thymine) and
C (cytosine) pairs with G (guanine).
• The double strand is twisted to form a helix
(like a twisted rope ladder with the base pairs
representing the rungs)