Carbon and the Molecular Diversity of Life_Chapter 4

1. Why carbon is important for life?

2. What are hydrocarbons and isomers?

3. What are the most important chemical groups?

Carbon is the backbone of life.

Living organisms are made up of chemicals which almost includes carbons. Carbon enters the biosphere by the action of photosynthesis and carbon can form molecules that are large, complex and diverse. Proteins, DNA are some of the molecules that have carbons. Carbons can make compounds with Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Sulfur and Phosphorus. Carbon compounds are called organic chemistry. Because organic molecules are those that have carbon atoms. Carbon is easy to form bonds since it has 6 electrons.

Hydrocarbons and Isomers

Hydrocarbons are organic molecules consisting of only carbon and hydrogen such as ethane (C2H6) , methane (CH4) and propane (C2H8). Hydrogens are attached to the carbon skeleton wherever electrons are available for covalent bounding. Isomers are compounds that have the same numbers of atoms of the same elements but different structures and so different properties. There are 3 different isomers; structural isomers which are dissimilar in the covalent arrangements of their atoms, geometrical isomers which have the same covalent partnerships but they

have different space arrangements and enantiomers which are isomers that are mirror images of each other.

7 important chemical groups.

Hydroxyl (OH)

Carbonyl (CO)

Carboxyl (COOH)

Amino (NH2)

Sulfhydryl (SH)

Phosphate (OPO3)

Methyl (CH3)

5 main facts from this chapter.

. The study of carbon compounds is called organic chemistry because of carbon's unique properties.

. Carbon has 6 electrons with 2 in the first electron shell and 4 in the second shell.

. Valence is the number covalent bonds that an atom can form. Nitrogen's valence is 3 but Carbon's is 4, Oxygen's is 2 but Hydrogen's is 1.

. Living matter is made mostly of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen with some sulfur and phosphorus.

. The chemical groups affect molecular function by being directly involved in chemical reactions, these chemical groups are known as functional groups.

Video :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C_6ax2TsV8

In this chapter, we learnt carbon and what kind of role it plays in the biological and chemical reactions.