Organic compounds

Organic molecules can be acidic or basic.

They may have other charged groups attached.

They can be polar or non-polar.

They can be hydrophillic or hydrophobic.

CARBOHYDRATES - SUGARS AND THEIR POLYMERS.

§       Monosaccharides - the simple sugars. We will be most concerned with the pentose and the hexose sugars.

§        disaccharides - 2 covalently bonded monosaccharides.

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§       Polysaccharides - polymers of monosaccharides and disaccharides. Some, like chitin and cellulose are structural polysaccarides. Others, like starch and glycogen are food storage molecules. Incidentally all four of the polysaccharide examples are polymers of glucose.

·       LIPIDS –

§       These are non-polar molecules which are not soluble in water, but easily dissolved in organic solvents

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§       Most Lipids are composed of glycerol and fatty acids: depending on how many fatty acids are attached to the glycerol, these may be monoglycerides, diglycerides or triglycerides. Depending on how many hydrogens are attached to the fatty acids (or how many double bonds are present), these may be saturated or unsaturated. If liquid, these lipids are called oils; if solid, these lipids are called fats or waxes. Phospholipids are a special class of diglyceride which has a phosphate group attached to it. Phospholipids are an important component of membranes.

§       Steroids represent another class of lipids which are structurally very different from the glycerides described above.