From: Bryan Bishop To: "Aly DelCueto" ,  "Aly DelCueto" ,  spillers@hayscisd.net Subject: Thur/Fri Cal 2 notes Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2007 17:27:21 -0500 User-Agent: KMail/1.9.5 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain;   charset="utf-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline Message-Id: <200710131727.21880.kanzure@gmail.com> Status: RO X-Status: RSC X-KMail-EncryptionState: X-KMail-SignatureState: X-KMail-MDN-Sent: Since Alex was in class and we didn't want to upset him, instead of talking about physics, we talked about this stuff, and Spiller says any of it is fair game, so here goes: **************************************** At the end of each side of that fatty acid will be a functional group. The type of functional group attached to the anterior and posterior end determines the function of that specific fatty acid. Fatty acids are the monomers for lipids. Monomers are the single unit of a repeating chain. Organic molecules are basically repeating chains. Right now we are focusing on monomers. The third type of monomer (for proteins this time) is the amino acid. All living things are composed of amino acids. What is truly amazing is that there are only 20 usable amino acid building blocks. It is the manner in which these amino acids are connected that creates the incredibly variety that we know as life. Alright, so this an amino acid. It has 5 components. First is NH4 which is called the “amino”. All amino acids have that NH4. Secondly is COOH (Carbon, Oxygen, and a Hydroxide) (“cooh”) - this also remains the same. It may be a carboxyl (maybe not, double check this). You also find a single H (hydrogen) atom. It is the location of the hydrogen atom that helps make the amino acid different. Actually, there's only 4. The fourth part is a functional group called an R-Group. The R-group tells us what Arr the amino acid. The R-group determines the type of amino acids. There are 20 different usable amino acids … and that's it. The functional group determines which type of amino acid that is. Now, amino acids make proteins. Amino acids are connected together in large chains to make proteins. The more that you change the structure of the chain of amino acids the more the function changes, like twisting a beeded-bracelet, it stops being a bracelet. The fourth type of organic molecule is a nucleic acid. Each nucleic acid is made of individual nucleotides, which are the monomers. Nucleotides contain a phosphate, a sugar, and a nitrogen base. “The skeletons may vary in length and may be straight, branched, or arranged in closed rings.” This is in direct reference to the four monomers we have discussed. The fact that we can get those chains is where we get the macromolecules which are huge. Glucose, fatty acids, amino acids, and nucleotides. The four main monomers. Carbon atoms are capable of forming chains. Sometimes these chains have the same chemical formulas as other chains. And we need to take a quick look at the idea of an isomer. Isomers are two different molecules that have the same chemical formula. Separate molecules that have the same formula. Galactose also has the same formula as glucose, it's a rearrangement, it's a little different type of change in the chains than in the original glucose. Galactose is an example of the first type of isomer called a structural isomer. Structural isomers differ in the arrangement of atoms. Geometric isomers are compounds with the same covalent partnerships that differ in their spatial arrangement around a carbon-carbon double bond. They differ in their arrangement around the double bond of a carbon atom. The double bond does not allow atoms to rotate freely around the bond axis. The biochemistry of vision involves a light-induced change in the structure of rhodospin in the retina from one geometric isomer to another. Structure determines function. The molecular structure is changed which creates a stimulus to the nerve cell. The third type of isomer is the enantiomers. They are mirror images of each other (these are molecules, mind you). There are “left handed” versions and “right handed” versions. Enantiomers are possible if there are four different atoms or groups of atoms bonded to a carbon. Usually one is biologically active and the other inactive. Carbohydrates are going to have a lot of different structures and there are a limited number of hydrogen or carbon atoms available so therefore they increase their function by the variation of structure in each of the molecules. **************************************** See you in class Monday. - Bryan