Monomers, polymers, and

macromolecules

There are 4 categories of macromolecules:

Carbohydrates
Proteins,
Lipids,
and Nucleic acids
 Carbon is the central element
• All biomolecules contain a Carbon chain or ring
• Carbon has 4 outer shell electrons (valence = 4)
• Therefore it’s bonding capacity is great
• It forms covalent bonds –hence, has strong bonds
• Once bound to other elements (or to other
Carbons), it is very stable
 CH4 =
Carbon linkages
Propane
• Single chains
• Rings = C3H8

The 4 types of biomolecules often

consist of large carbon chains
 Carbon binds to more than just
hydrogen!!
• To OH groups in sugars
• To NH2 groups in amino
acids
• To H2PO4 groups of
nucleotides of DNA,
RNA, and ATP
Amino acid

OH, NH2, PO4 are called ‘functional groups’!

Fig. 3.1

Functional groups:
 Monomers and polymers
• Monomers are made into polymers via dehydration reactions
• Polymers are broken down into monomers via hydrolysis
reactions
Fig. 3.3
Carbohydrates
• (CH2O)n
• The sugars of importance in cellular
metabolism have values of n that range
from 3 to 7.
– Trioses, tetroses, pentoses, hexoses, heptoses.
• Also called glycans
• Function primarily as stores of chemical
energy and as durable building material for
biological construction.
• Each sugar molecule consists of a backbone of carbon
atoms linked together in a linear array by single
bonds.
• Each of the carbon atoms of the backbone is linked to
a single hydroxyl group, except for one that bears a
carbonyl (C=O) group.
• If the carbonyl group is located at an internal position
(to form a ketone group), the sugar is a ketose such as
fructose.
• If the carbonyl group is located at the one end of the
sugar, it forms an aldehyde goup and the molecule is
known as an aldose such as glucose
Carbohydrates (or sugars)
• Simple sugars
(monosaccharides)
• Only one 3-C, 5-C, 6-
C chain or ring
involved
 Isomers have the same molecular
formulas but different structures
• Structural isomer = difference in the C skeleton structure

• Stereoisomer = difference in location of functional groups

Fig. 3.5

Examples of sugar monomers*

*Remember how C’s are counted within the ring

structures (starting from the right side and counting
clockwise)
Linking Sugars Together
• Sugars can be joined to one another by
glycosidic bonds to form larger molecules.
• Glycosidic bonds form by reaction between
carbon atom C1 of one sugar and the
hydroxyl group of another sugar generating
a –C-O-C- linkage between the two sugars,
Carbohydrates (sugars)
• Double sugars
(disaccharides)
• Two 6-C chains or
rings bonded together
Disaccharides
• Serve primarily as readily available energy
stores.
– Sucrose, or table sugar, carries chemical energy from
one part of the plant to another.
– Lactose, present in milk of most mammals, supplies
newborn mammals with fuel for early growth and
development.
• Lactose in the diet is hydrolyzed by the enzyme lactase,
which is present in the plasma membranes of the cells that
line in the intestine. Many people lose this enzyme after
childhood and find that eating dairy products causes
digestive discomfort.
Oligosaccharides
• Oligo- few
• Most often such chains are found covalently
attached to lipids and proteins, converting
them into glycolipids and glycoproteins,
respectively.
• They can serve to distinguish one type of
cell from another and help mediate specific
interactions of a cell with its surroundings.
 Carbohydrates (sugars)
• Complex carbo’s
(polysaccharides)
– Starch
– Cellulose
– Glycogen
– Chitin

Glycogen to glucose
in animals
• The largest carbohydrates
– Starch – how plants store food they make
–Glycogen – how animals store food
reserves in the liver
–Cellulose – structural material in plant cell
walls; the fiber in the food you eat
–Chitin – structural material in fungal cell
walls; in the exoskeletons of arthropods
Fig. 3.9
Polysaccharides
Starch structure vs Glycogen structure
Fig. 3.10

Polysaccharides: Cellulose structure