Biochemistry Assessment - Study Material for Carbohydrates, Proteins, Lipids and Nucleic Acids

Running Head: BIOCHEMISTRY ASSESSMENT
BIOCHEMISTRY ASSESSMENT
Name of student:
Name of university:
Author Note:

1BIOCHEMISTRY ASSESSMENT
Part A
1. 1-hexanamine has a linear chain while triethylamine has a branched structure. Boiling point
increases for a linear chain; more compact and branching structures exhibit less interaction
between molecules, thereby having less Vander Waals forces of interaction as in case of
triethylamine. More spread structure causes boiling point to rise in 1-hexanamine (Salammal et
al., 2015).
2. The chemical structure of Propanol has a highly polar OH group which takes part in hydrogen
bonding and its highly electronegative oxygen with lone pairs of electrons contribute to
permanent dipole-dipole interactions.Propanal with CHO functional group lacks the hydrogen
bonding interactions as the highly electronegative oxygen atom is bonded to carbon, only dipole-
dipole interactions result. Vander Waals forces of attractions are present in both propanol and
propanal (Cunningham et al., 2018). Higher number of intermolecular forces contributes to
higher boiling point (97°C) in propanol compared to propanal (48°C).
3. The difference in melting point of fatty acids depends on the molecular weight and the extent
of unsaturation. Stearic acid is a saturated fatty acidwith a linear structure. Linoleic acid has two
unsaturated double bonds positioned at 9 and 12 respectively. Higher the number of unsaturation,
lower will be the melting point of the fatty acid. Linoleic acid with 2 double bonds has a
spherical non-linear structurewith less intermolecular interaction. Resultant decreased Vander
Waals forces lower the melting point of Linoleic acid (Budin et al., 2014).
4. Amides have a functional group CONH2, which performs antibacterial activity by causing
membrane disruption for gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria(Pérez-Peinadoet al., 2018).
The amides and derivatives target the thick peptidoglycan layer in gram-positive bacteria and
outer polysaccharide layer in gram-negative bacteria causing permeabilization and inhibition of
peptidoglycan synthesis.
Amides are synthesized in derivatives to augment the antibacterial activities of
bactericidal agents in response to evolving bacterial infections. They are used as beta-lactam
targets and enzyme inhibitors to dissolve the bacterial cell membrane and inhibit both DNA and
RNA synthesis.
Part B

2BIOCHEMISTRY ASSESSMENT
Biological systems are composed of fundamental units of life termed as cells, whose
structure and function rely on the carbon containing biomolecules: Carbohydrates, Proteins,
Lipids and Nucleic acids. The complex structure of biomolecules are related to the diverse
functions they perform in the living systems.
Structural Classification of Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates serves as one of the major energy sources for living systems. Depending
on the structural units, carbohydrates are classified into three classes namely:
Monosaccharides:The monosaccharides comprise of the simple sugars like glucose and
fructose. They have a short chain length ranging from three to six carbon atoms. They are highly
soluble in water and cannot be further broken down. Glucose is the most abundant
monosaccharide found in living system and major metabolic byproduct. Monosaccharides are
again classified into aldoses and ketoses based on the presence of oxidized functional group.
Glucose is an aldose sugar with aldehyde as the functional group while dihroxyacetone is a
ketose sugar with carbonyl group (Voet, Voet &Pratt, 2016).
Oligosaccharides:Monosaccharides are joined together through covalent linkage called
glycosidic bonds to synthesize short chains varying between two to ten monosaccharide units.
These short chains are termed as oligosaccharides which are easily hydrolysable into their
constituent monosaccharides. Oligosaccharides are further classified depending on the number of
linking monosaccharide units. These are classified as follows:
 Disaccharides: These are composed of two units of monosaccharides. Lactose is a
disaccharide composed of glucose and galactose monosaccharides.
 Trisaccharides: These comprise of three units of linked monosaccharides. Raffinose is a
trisaccharide consisting of alpha galactosyl derivatives of sucrose.
 Tetrasaccharides:These contain four units of monosaccharides linked together.
Stachyose is a tetrasaccharide which hydrolyzes into one unit each of glucose and
fructose and two units of galactose.
Polysaccharides: These comprise of thousands of monosaccharide units linked through
glycosidic bonds. Polysaccharides are insoluble in water but soluble in organic solvents.
Polysaccharides with one type of constituent monosaccharide are termed as