Organic Chapter 8: Biochemistry

Question 1

What groups make up an amino acid?

Answer 1

Amino group and a Carboxyl group

Question 2

How do you find out the systematic name for an amino acid?

Answer 2

• Find the longest carbon chain that includes the carboxylic acid group
• number the carbons starting with the carboxylic group as 1
• Write down the positions of any NH group and number them by their carbon.
  (example - 2-aminopropanoic acid)

Question 3

What is a zwitterion?

Answer 3

A dipolar ion, has both a positive and negative charge at either end of the molecule

Question 4

How do you calculate an Rf value of an amino acid?

Answer 4

DIstance travelled by acid spot/distance travelled by solvent

Question 5

What does TLC mean?

Answer 5

Thin-Layer Chromatography

Question 6

How can you see spots on a Chromatography paper?

Answer 6

Ninhydrin spray or UV Light

Question 7

What are Proteins?

Answer 7

Condensation polymers of Amino Acids

Question 8

What are the three levels of protein structure?

Answer 8

Primary - Sequence of Amino Acids
Secondary - Alpha helix chain or beta pleated sheet
Tertiary - Coiled chain

Question 9

What holds proteins in shape?

Answer 9

Hydrogen bonding and disulfide bonds

Question 10

What are enzymes?

Answer 10

Biological catalysts

Question 11

What are disulfide bonds?

Answer 11

Where two molecules have an S-H bond, and lose the H to form an S-S bond

Question 12

What is an inhibitor?

Answer 12

Molecules that have a similar shape to an enzyme substrate - block enzymes

Question 13

What are the three parts that make up a nucleotide?

Answer 13

Phosphate group
Pentose Sugar
A base

Question 14

How is DNA formed?

Answer 14

Condensation polymerisation

Question 15

What are the base pairs?

Answer 15

A-T
C-G

Question 16

What is the medical use of cisplatin?

Answer 16

Binds to DNA in cancer cells to prevent replication.
However, binds to healthy cells too, so causes issues with cells that replicate frequently such as hair cells.