Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Objectives:
1. Recognize the major categories of biomolecules
such as carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and
nucleic acids;
2. Differentiate the biomolecules from each other in
terms of their structure and function.
What are
BIOMOLECULES?
◼ Organic compounds made by
living things
◼ Compounds essential to life
◼ Also called biochemicals
◼ Some are very large - polymers
◼ There are thousands of different
biomolecules, but are separated
into 4 categories-
Carbohydrate, Lipids,
Proteins, Nucleic acids
IMPORTANT BIOMOLECULES OF LIFE
■ Water
■ CARBOHYDRATES
■ LIPIDS
■ PROTEINS
■ NUCLEIC ACIDS
■ ENZYMES
Characteristics of Biomolecules
• Most of them are organic compounds
• Have specific shape and dimensions
• Functional group based chemical properties
• Asymmetric
• Macromolecules
• Simple structure
• Building block molecules
• Arose by chemical evolution
CARBOHYDRATES
• The simplest biomolecules
• Contain 3 elements:
Monosaccharide Disaccharide
Subtypes of Carbohydrates
MONOSACCHARIDES
(mono-“one” sacchar- “sugar”)
DISACCHARIDES
■ form when two monosaccharides
undergo a condensation reaction
■ Example:
1. Maltose [Glucose & Glucose]
2. Lactose [Glucose & Galactose]
3. Sucrose [Glucose & Fructose]
Subtypes of Carbohydrates
POLYSACCHARIDES
■ A long chain of monosaccharides
linked by glycosidic bonds.
■ The typical polysaccharide is between
200 and 2500 monosaccharides long.
EXAMPLES OF
POLYSACCHARIDES
HOMOPOLYSACCHARIDES
■ STARCH
■ GLYCOGEN
■ CELLULOSE
■ CHITIN
■ INULIN
HETROPOLYSACCHARIDES
1. Peptidoglycan
2. Hyaluronic acid
3. Chondroitin sulfate
4. Pectin
AMINO ACIDS
▪ Carbon Hydrogen
▪ Oxygen Nitrogen
NUCLEIC ACIDS
▪ Also called as POLYNUCLEOTIDES
▪ Made of:
▪ Carbon Oxygen
▪ Hydrogen Nitrogen
▪ Phosphorus
NUCLEOTIDES
▪ Monomers of nuclei acids
▪ Made up of three
components:
▪ A nitrogen-containing
base
▪ A five-carbon sugar
▪ Phosphate group
CLASSIFICATION OF NUCLEIC ACIDS
LIPIDS
• A class of biological molecules
defined by low solubility in water
• Contain 3 elements:
Carbon (C)
Hydrogen (H)
Oxygen (O)
BUILDING
BLOCKS OF
LIPIDS