Objectives

After this lesson, you should be able

• To justify the importance of carbon in organic molecules

• To discuss the vital role of water in the cell
• To describe the cell membranes and its selective permeability
• To explain the importance of polymerization synthesis and its role in
chemical functioning of the cell
• To evaluate the importance of self assembly in cells
Five Important Principles of Cell
Strategies
• The Importance of Carbon
• The Importance of Water
• The Importance of selectively permeable membranes
• The importance of synthesis by polymerization of small
molecules
• The importance of Self Assembly
The Importance of Carbon
• The carbon atom has several
properties that make it uniquely
suited as the basis for life. Each
atom forms four stable covalent
bonds and can participate in single,
double, or triple bonds with one or
more other carbon atoms. This
creates a wide variety of linear,
branched, and ring-containing
compounds.
Importance of carbon
CARBON atom (C) is the most important atom
in biological molecules because:
• It is a universal backbone of biologically
important molecules
• Carbon atom has a valence of four which tend
to associate with the other electron deficient
atoms to share pair of electrons to be able to
complete the outer orbital which is required
for the most stable chemical state of an atom.
• Atoms that share each other’s electrons are
said to be joined together with the covalent
bond.
• Carbon atoms are most likely to form covalent
bonds with one another and with atoms of
oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and sulfur.
• When there are two or even three pairs of
electrons can be shared by two atoms, the
double and triple bonds formed. (Ethylene and
Carbon dioxide)
The diversity and stability of its
carbon containing compounds
are due to the specific
properties of carbon atom and
to the nature of the
interactions of carbon atoms
with one another as well as
with a limited number of other
elements found in the
molecules of biological
importance
CARBON-Containing Molecules are Stable
• The stability of organic molecules is the
property of the favorable electronic
configuration of each carbon atom in the
molecule
• The stability is expressed in terms of bond
energy
• Bond energy is the amount of energy
required to break 1 mole of such a bonds.
It is the amount of energy that is needed to
break the bond.
• Covalent bonds are much higher in energy
than noncovalent bonds and therefore very
stable
The dashed lines mark
the bond energies of the
C H, the C C, and the C N
single bonds. The bottom
of the graph shows the
approximate range of
wavelengths
CARBON-Containing Molecules are
Diverse
• Carbon containing compounds are
characterized by the great
diversity of molecules that can be
generated from relatively few
different kinds of atoms.

• The diversity is due to the

tetravalent nature of the carbon
atom and the resulting propensity
of each carbon atom to form
covalent bonds to four other
atoms.
CARBON-Containing Molecules Can Stereoisomers
Form
• Carbon containing molecules
are capable of still greater
diversity because carbon atom is
a tetrahedral structure with
geometric symmetry.
• Stereoisomers is a mirror image
forms of the same compound.
Stereoisomers of organic
compounds occur when four
different groups are attached to a
tetrahedral carbon atom.
• Asymmetric carbon atom is a
carbon atom that has 4 different
substituents.
• Carbon also readily bonds to
several other types of atoms
commonly found in cellular
compounds, including hydrogen,
oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus,
and sulfur.
• These elements are frequently
found in functional groups
attached to carbon skeletons—
groups such as the hydroxyl,
sulfhydryl, carboxyl, amino,
phosphate, carbonyl, and
aldehyde groups.
The Importance of Water
• The unique chemical properties
of water help to make it the most
abundant compound in cells.
• These properties include its
cohesiveness, its high specific
heat, its temperature stabilizing
capacity, and its ability to act as a
solvent for most biological
molecules.
Characteristics of
water

• Water Molecules are Polar

• Water Molecules are Cohesive
• Water Has a High Temperature-Stabilizing Capacity
• Water is an Excellent Solvent
Water Molecules are Polar
• Water molecule is a triangular
rather than linear in
shape, with the two
hydrogen atoms bonded to
the oxygen at an
angle of 104.5° rather than
180°.
• The water molecule is polar
because it has an
asymmetric charge
distribution
Water Molecules are Polar

The 2 hydrogen atoms are bonded to the oxygen at an

angle of 145°. The oxygen atoms are bonded to the
oxygen atom bears a partial negative charge and is
thus the electronegative portion of the molecule. The
two hydrogen atoms are electropositive, their end of
the molecule has a partial positive charge.

The oxygen atom at the head of the molecule is

electronegative that is it tends to draw electron
toward it, giving that end of the molecule a partial
negative charge and leaving the other end of the
molecule with a partial positive charge around the
hydrogen atoms.
• This charge separation gives the water
molecule its POLARITY which we can
define as an uneven distribution of
charge within a molecule.
• In the case of water, the polarity of the
molecule has enormous consequences,
accounting for the cohesiveness, the
temperature-stabilizing capacity, and
the solvent properties of water.
This polarity leads to extensive
hydrogen bonding between water
molecules, as well as between
water and other polar molecules,
rendering them soluble in aqueous
solutions.
Water molecules are cohesive
• The cohesiveness of water
molecules accounts for the
high surface tension of water,
as well as for its high boiling
point, high specific heat, and
high heat of vaporization.
• The high surface tension of
water causes the capillary
action that enables water to
move up the conducting
tissues of plants and allows
insects such as the water
strider to move across the
surface of a pond without
breaking the surface.
Water has a high temperature –stabilizing capacity
• High specific heat is the important
property of water that derives
directly from the hydrogen bonding
between adjacent molecules that
gives water its temperature–
stabilizing capacity.

• Specific Heat is the amount of heat a

substance must absorb per gram to
increase its temperature 1°C.
• The specific heat of water is 1.0
calorie per gram.
Water is an excellent solvent
The most important property of water from a biological perspective is its
excellence as a general solvent.
A solvent is a fluid in which another substance, called the solute, can be
dissolved.
Water has a capacity to dissolve a great variety of solutes. Most of the molecules
in cells are also polar and therefore interact electrostatically with water molecules
as do charged ions.
• Hydrophilic (water-loving) are
solutes that have an affinity for
water and therefore dissolve
readily in it. (e.g., sugars,organic
acids and some amino acids)
• Hydrophobic (water fearing) are
molecules that are not very
soluble in water.
• The more important hydrophobic
compounds found in the cells are
the lipids and most of the proteins
of which membranes are made.
• Polar molecules tend to
hydrophilic
be and nonpolar
molecules tend to be
hydrophobic.

• Some biological compounds are

soluble in water because they
exist as ions at the near-neutral
pH of the cell and are therefore
solubilized and hydrated.
The Importance of Selectively Permeable Membranes

All cells are surrounded by

a defining cell membrane
that is selectively
permeable, controlling the
flow of materials into and
out of the cell.
• Biological membranes have a
phospholipid bilayer structure
with a hydrophobic interior
that blocks the direct passage
of large polar molecules,
charged molecules, and ions.
• However, large polar and
charged molecules and ions
can cross membranes via
membrane-spanning transport
proteins that form hydrophilic
channels to allow passage of
specific molecules.
• A phospholipid molecule consists of
two long nonpolar tails (yellow) and a
polar head (orange). Illustrated here is
phosphatidyl ethanolamine, an
example of the phosphoglyceride class
of membrane phospholipids. The
polarity of the head of a phospholipid
molecule results from a negatively
charged phosphate group linked to a
positively charged group—an amino
group, in the case of phosphatidyl
ethanolamine.
• A phospholipid molecule is often
represented schematically by a circle
for the polar head (notice the plus and
minus charges) and two zigzag lines for
the nonpolar hydrocarbon chain
Roles of the membrane proteins
• Transport protein- responsible for moving specific substances across
otherwise impermeable membrane .
an
• Enzymes- catalyst reactions associated with the specific membrane.
• Receptors- serve as the outer surface of the cell membrane.
• Electron transport intermediates of the mitochondrial membrane( chlorophyll-
binding proteins of the choloroplast).
The Importance of Synthesis by Polymerization
• The molecular building blocks of the
cell are small organic molecules put
together by stepwise polymerization to
form the macromolecules so important
to cellular structure and function.
• Relatively few kinds of monomeric
units comprise most of the
polysaccharide, protein, and nucleic
acid polymers in cells.
Polymerization of monomers requires that they first be
activated, usually at the expense of ATP.
Monomers are then linked together by removal of
water in condensation reactions or dehydration
synthesis.
Polymers are degraded by the reverse reaction—
hydrolysis.
Macromolecules Are Synthesized by Stepwise Polymerization
of Monomers
1. Macromolecules are always synthesized by the stepwise polymerization
of similar or identical small molecules called monomers.
2.The addition of each monomer occurs with the removal of a
water molecule and is therefore termed a condensation reaction.
3. The monomeric units that are to be joined together must be
present as
activated monomers before condensation can occur.
4.Activation usually involves coupling of the monomer to a carrier
molecule, forming an activated monomer.
5. The energy needed to couple the monomer to the carrier molecule is
provided by a molecule called adenosine triphosphate (ATP) or a related
high-energy compound.
6. Because of the way they are synthesized, macromolecules have an
inherent directionality. This means that the two ends of the polymer chain
are chemically different from each other.
Small organic molecules (level 1) The Hierarchical Nature of Cellular Structures and
are synthesized from simple inorganic Their Assembly
substances and are polymerized to form
macromolecules (level 2).
The macromolecules then assemble
into the
supramolecular structures (level 3) that make
up organelles and other subcellular structures
(level 4) and, ultimately, the cell itself (level 5).
The supramolecular structures shown as level 3
are more complex in their chemical
composition than the figure suggests.
Chromosomes, for example, contain proteins
as
well as DNA—in about equal amounts, in fact.
Similarly, membranes contain not only lipids
but also a variety of proteins; and cell walls
contain not just cellulose but also other
carbohydrates and proteins.
The Importance of Self-Assembly
• While energy input is required for
polymerization of monomers into
macromolecules, most macromolecules fold into
their final three-dimensional conformations
spontaneously.
• The information needed for this folding is
inherent in the chemical nature of the
monomeric units and the order in which the
monomers are put together.
Many Proteins Self-Assemble
• For example, the unique three-dimensional conformation
of a protein forms by spontaneous folding of the linear
polypeptide chain, and this conformation depends only on
the specific order of amino acids in the protein.
• The final structure is the result of several covalent and
noncovalent interactions, including disulfide bonding,
hydrogen bonding, ionic bonding, van der Waals
interactions, and hydrophobic interactions.
• Individual polymers can interact with each other in a
unique and predictable manner to generate successively
more complex structures.
• This hierarchical assembly process has the dual
advantages of chemical simplicity and efficiency of
assembly.
• It also allows quality control at multiple steps to ensure
proper production of cell components.
Five Important Principles of Cell
Strategies
• The Importance of Carbon
• The Importance of Water
• The Importance of selectively permeable membranes
• The importance of synthesis by polymerization of small
molecules
• The importance of Self Assembly