Section 4: the building blocks of life

Q: why does life on earth depend on carbon?

Because carbon is a component of almost all biological molecules

Organic chemistry

 Organic chemistry: branch of chemistry that studies organic compounds.

 Organic compound: compound that contains carbon.

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Q: why there is a variety of important organic compounds?
Because carbon has four electron in its last energy level.
Q: what type of bonds does carbon form? Covalent bonds
Q: how many covalent bonds does carbon can form? Four c
Q: what are the shapes of carbon compounds? Straight chains, branched chains and rings.
 Macromolecules ‫الجزيئات الضخمة‬

Macromolecules: large molecules made by joining smaller organic molecules together.

Polymers: molecules made from monomers.
Monomers: repeating units of identical compounds.
Q: what are the four macromolecules?

 Lipids
 Carbohydrates
 Proteins
 Nucleic acids

Macromolecule Polymer Function Examples

 Store energy
Lipids ‫الدهون‬ Fatty acids  Provide barriers  Bees’ wax

 Communication
Proteins‫البوتينات‬
‫ر‬  Transport substances  Hemoglobin
Amino acids  Speed reactions
 Make hormones

Carbohydrates  Store energy  Bread

‫الكربوهيدرات‬ Sugar  Support structure  Grains
 Sugars
Nucleic acids ‫االحماض‬ Store and communicate  DNA
‫االمينية‬ Nuclotides genetic information.  RNA

1) Carbohydrates

 Carbohydrates: compounds composed of carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen in a ratio of one

oxygen and two hydrogen atoms for each carbon atom.
 Monosaccharide: one sugar unit.
 Disaccharide: two monosaccharide units.
 Polysaccharides: large number of monosaccharide units.

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The general formula of carbohydrates is ( CH2O)n

n is the number of units in a chain.
There are three types of sugars monosaccharide, disaccharide and polysaccharides.
If (n) is from 3-7 then the sugar is monosaccharide.

Monosaccharide Disaccharide Polysaccharides

One sugar unit Two monosaccharide units large number of monosaccharide

units.

Glucose -fructose Sucrose - lactose Glycogen- Cellulose

Glucose: C6H12O6
Sucrose: C12H22O11
Fractose: C6H12O6
Glycogen: C24H42O21
Cellulose: C6H10O5
 2) Lipids ‫الدهون‬

 Lipids: molecules made up mostly of carbon and hydrogen that make up fats, waxes and
oils.
 Saturated fats: lipids that have only single bond in the tail chain.
 Unsaturated fats: lipids that have at least one double bond in the tail chain.
 Polyunsaturated fats: lipids that have more than one double bond in the tail chain.

Lipids can be fats , sugars , waxes , phosolipids and steroids.

Triglyceride is stored in the fat cells of the body.
Triglyceride is called fat when it is solid at room temperature.
Triglyceride is called oil when it is solid at room temperature.

Q: what is the importance of wax?

 Wax covers plant leaves.

 Honeycomb is made of wax.

Q: what are the two types of fats?

 Saturated and unsaturated fats.

Saturated fats‫دهون مشبعة‬ Unsaturated fats‫غب مشبعة‬

‫دهون ر‬

Have only single bond in the tail chain. Have at least one double bond in the tail
chain.

No more hydrogens can bond to the tail More hydrogens can bond to the tail

Examples: citric acid Example: Olic acid