BIO1022 Chapter Notes -Covalent Bond, Hydrogen Bond, Monosaccharide
Document Summary
The structure and function of large biological molecules. The molecules of life: the four large molecules of all living things are: Nucleic acids: carbohydrates, nucleic acids and proteins are large in size thus they are called macromolecules. Macromolecules: macromolecules are chain-like molecules called polymers, a polymer is a long molecule which contains similar or identical building blocks linked by covalent bonds, monomers are the smaller molecules that act as a building block for polymers. Polymers: a condensation reaction is where two molecules are covalently bonded together and loses a water molecule. It is also called dehydration reaction because a water molecule is lost: the dehydration process is helped by enzymes, specialized macromolecules that speed up chemical reactions in cells, hydrolysis is the reverse of dehydration reaction. It is where a water molecule is added to break a bond: polymers are broken down to monomers due to hydrolysis.
