Lecture-3

The Chemistry of Life

(Part-1)
Md. Fakruddin, PhD (Fddn)
Assistant Professor
Department of Biochemistry & Microbiology
School of Health & Life Sciences
North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Office- SAC825
Tel: +8801304206807
Email: md.fakruddin@northsouth.edu

Biology BIO103

Learning objectives

1. What are the elements of life

2. How molecules of life are being built?
3. Chemical bonds

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 Life depends on chemistry!
• When you eat food or inhale oxygen, your body uses
these materials in chemical reactions that keep you
alive

• Just as buildings are made from bricks, steel, glass,

and wood, living things are made from chemical
compounds

• Wouldn’t you want an architect to understand

building materials? Same idea applies to geneticists,
ecologists, zoologists, botanists, biologists, and etc.

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 Fat: Fear of frying
• What is fat?
Food for thoughts
• Is fat always bad for health?
• How can you differentiate good and bad fat?

• We might need only a tablespoon of fat/day to stay healthy

• But the scenario is different in developed countries
• Americans consume 100lb./year (reason of obesity and
overweight)

Ø The total quantity of fat we eat may be of

less importance to health than the kinds of

fats we eat
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Fat: Fear of frying

• Fats with a certain arrangement of hydrogen atoms around
that carbon chain are called trans fats
• Eating as little as 2 grams a day of hydrogenated vegetable
oils increases a person’s risk of atherosclerosis (hardening of
the arteries), heart attack, and diabetes
• A small serving of French-fries made with hydrogenated
vegetable oil contains about 5 grams of trans fats.

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 So…lets learn about the chemistry of life!
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Chemistry of Life

Life

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 Terminologies: To understand chemistry of life!

Terminologies
• Atom : Particle that is a fundamental building block of matter
• Atomic number: Number of protons in the atomic nucleus; determines
the element.
• Charge: Electrical property of some subatomic particles. Opposite charges
attract; like charges repel.
• Electron: Negatively charged subatomic particle that occupies orbitals
around the atomic nucleus.
• Element: A pure substance that consists only of atoms with the same
number of protons.

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 Terminologies
• Isotopes: Forms of an element that differ in the number of
neutrons their atoms carry
• Mass number: Total number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus
of an element's atoms.
• Neutron: Uncharged subatomic particle in the atomic nucleus.
• Nucleus: Core of an atom; occupied by protons and neutrons.
• Proton: Positively charged subatomic particle that occurs in the
nucleus of all atoms.
• Radioactive decay: Process by which atoms of a radioisotope
spontaneously emit energy and subatomic particles when their
nucleus disintegrates.
• Radioisotope: Isotope with an unstable nucleus.

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CHEMISTRY OF LIFES: ATOMS

v Life’s unique characteristics start with the properties of

different atoms.
v Atoms are tiny (20 million times smaller than a grain of
sand) particles that are building blocks of all substances.
v Atoms consist of even smaller subatomic particles:
positively charged protons (p+), uncharged neutrons,
and negatively charged electrons (e–).

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 Atomic Structure
Atoms are neutral Numbers of e- and p+ are same in one atom

Number of proton is fixed for an atom of an element

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CHEMISTRY OF LIFES: ATOMS

v Charge is an
electrical property.
Opposite charges
attract, and like
charges repel.

v Protons and
neutrons cluster
in an atom’s
central core, or
nucleus, and
electrons move
around the
nucleus .

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 CHEMISTRY OF LIFES: ATOMS
• An atom can be imagined as
a multilevel apartment No. of
building electrons

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• The nucleus is the basement.

• Each “floor” of the atomic 8

building is occupied by
certain numbers of electrons
which corresponds to a
certain energy level.
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• From the top floor (outermost
shell) one or two electrons
can be rented.

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CHEMISTRY OF LIFES: ATOMS AND ELECTRONS

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 CHEMISTRY OF LIFES: ATOMS
• If an atom’s outermost shell is full of electrons, we
say that it has no vacancies.
• Ex: Helium
• Atoms of such elements are chemically inactive,
which means they are most stable as single atoms.

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CHEMISTRY OF LIFES: ATOMS

• If an atom’s outermost shell has room for another

electron, it has a vacancy.
• Ex: Hydrogen has one vacancy.
• Atoms with vacancies tend to interact with other
atoms: They give up, acquire, or share electrons until
they have no vacancies in their outermost shell.
• Any atom is in its most stable state when it has no
vacancies.

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 CHEMISTRY OF LIFES: ATOMS
• The number of protons in an atom’s nucleus is
called the atomic number, and it determines the
type of atom, or element.
• Ex. Atomic number of O is 8
• Mass number = Total number of protons and
neutrons in the nucleus of an element's atoms.

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Ions
• An Ion is an atom or a group of atoms that has a
net positive or negative charge.
• The number of “Proton” in the nucleus remains
same during chemical reaction.
• “electrons” are lost/gained during a reaction.
– The loss of 1/more electrons from a neutral atom
results “cation” : an ion with (+) charge .
– The gain of 1/more electrons from a neutral atom
results “anion”: an ion with (-) charge.

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 Na+ 11 protons Cl- 17 protons
10 electrons 18 electrons
Cation anion

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• Atoms with vacancies tend to interact with other atoms: They

give up, acquire, or share electrons until they have no vacancies
in their outermost shell. Any atom is in its most stable state when
it has no vacancies.

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 Elements
• Pure substances that cannot be broken down
chemically into simpler kinds of matter
• consists only of atoms with the same number
of protons
• More than 100 elements (92 naturally
occurring)

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From Atoms to Molecules

• A molecule is a group of atoms that are
bound tightly together by chemical bonds
• Compound = combination of two or more
different elements (e.g. H2O)
• Molecules are held together by chemical
bonds
• Chemical Bond: A molecule is a particle
composed of two or more atoms. The force that
holds the atoms together in a molecule is
called a chemical bond.
– ionic bonds
– covalent bonds

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 How the
molecules are
arranged in
macromolecules

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Element vs. Compound

• An element is a substance that cannot be broken
down to other substances by chemical reactions.
– Each element has a symbol, usually the first letter or two
of its name.

– Example: Carbon (C), Cobalt (Co), Hydrogen (H) etc.

• A compound is a substance consisting of two or

more different elements combined in a fixed ratio.
– Example: sodium chloride (NaCl), a compound composed
of the elements sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl) in a 1:1
ratio.

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 Element vs. Compound
• An element is a substance that cannot be broken
down to other substances by chemical reactions.
– Each element has a symbol, usually the first letter or two
of its name.

– Example: Carbon (C), Cobalt (Co), Hydrogen (H) etc.

• A compound is a substance consisting of two or

more different elements combined in a fixed ratio.
– Example: sodium chloride (NaCl), a compound composed
of the elements sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl) in a 1:1
ratio.

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CHEMISTRY OF LIFES:CHEMICAL BONDS

• There are 3 major types of bond based on the

properties of atoms. These are;

1. Ionic
2. Covalent
3. Hydrogen bond

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 CHEMISTRY OF LIFES: CHEMICAL BONDS

IONIC BONDS:
• An ionic bond is a strong mutual attraction of
oppositely charged ions.

– a strongly electronegative atom tends to gain electrons until its

outermost shell is full. At that point it will be a negatively
charged ion. A weakly electronegative atom tends to lose
electrons until its outermost shell is full.

• Such bonds do not usually form by the direct transfer

of an electron from one atom to another; rather,
atoms that have already become ions stay close
together because of their opposite charges

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CHEMISTRY OF LIFES: IONIC BONDS

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 Ionization

§ Molecules formed by ionic

bonding breakup
(ionization) when dissolved
in water (solvent),
producing separate positive
(cation) and negative
(anion) ions.

§ These ions conduct

electricity and thus called
electrolytes.

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CHEMISTRY OF LIFES: CHEMICAL BONDS

COVALENT BONDS:
• In a covalent bond, two atoms share a pair of
electrons.

• Such bonds typically form between atoms with

similar electronegativity and unpaired electrons.

• By sharing their electrons, each atom’s vacancy

becomes partially filled.

• Covalent bonds can be stronger than ionic bonds, but

they are not always so.

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 CHEMISTRY OF LIFES: CHEMICAL BONDS

Structural formulas show how covalent bonds connect atoms. A line

between two atoms represents a single covalent bond, in which two atoms
share one pair of electrons .A simple example is molecular hydrogen (H2)

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Electronegativity

• Atoms in a molecule attract shared

electrons to varying degrees, depending
on the element.
• The attraction of a particular atom for
the electrons of a covalent bond is
called its electronegativity.
• The more electronegative an atom is, the
more strongly it pulls shared electrons
toward itself.

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 Two Types of Covalent Bonds

• Nonpolar Covalent Bond

– The atoms participating in the bond are sharing
electrons equally. There is no difference in charge
between the two ends of such bonds.

• Polar Covalent Bond

– Atoms participating in the bonds do not share
electrons equally.
– One atom pulls the electrons a little more toward its
"end" of the bond, so that atom bears a slightly
negative charge. The atom at the other end of the
bond bears a slightly positive charge.

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 CHEMISTRY OF LIFES: CHEMICAL BONDS

Many atoms participate in more than one covalent bond at the same
time. The oxygen atom in a water molecule (HOH) is one example.
Many atoms can share multiple electrons and forms multiple covalent
bonds. Ex. Two oxygen atoms, each with eight protons, share four
electrons in a double covalent bond.

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Polar Covalent Bond

§ Polarity occurs when atoms

electrons are unequal due
to differences in
electronegativities.
This is seen in water
(H2O).

§ More electronegative atoms

tend to pull electrons
toward them creating a
polar molecule.

The oxygen atom in a water molecule carries a slight negative

charge, and each of the hydrogen atoms carries a slight positive
charge. Any separation of charge into distinct positive and
negative regions is called polarity.

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 CHEMISTRY OF LIFES: CHEMICAL BONDS
HYDROGEN BOND:
• A hydrogen bond is a
weak attraction between a
covalently bonded
hydrogen atom and
another atom taking part
in a separate polar
covalent bond.
• In a hydrogen bond, the
atom interacting with the
hydrogen is typically an
oxygen, nitrogen, or other
highly electronegative
atom.

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CHEMISTRY OF LIFES: CHEMICAL BONDS

HYDROGEN BOND:
• Hydrogen bonds form by the mutual attraction of
opposite charges: The hydrogen atom carries a
slight positive charge and the other atom carries a
slight negative charge.
• Hydrogen bonds are individually weak, but
collectively strong

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 HYDROGEN BOND

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Building large molecules of life

-Chain together smaller molecules

-building block molecules = monomers

-Big molecules built from little molecules

polymers

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 What we learned-

1. What are the elements of life

2. How molecules of life are being built?
3. Chemical bonds

Any Questions?

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