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Chemistry of Macromolecules – Study Guide
LIST OF VOCABULARY WORDS:
-
Homeostasis - Ability to maintain a constant internal environment in response to environmental
changes
Biotic – Living or was once living (dead)
Abiotic – Nonliving
Atomic Number – Number of protons an element contains
Atomic Mass – Average mass of an element (sum of protons, neutrons, and electrons)
Energy Level – The levels that electrons occupy
Ionic Bond – Transfer of electrons to create a bond between two ions that are attracted by
opposite charges
Covalent Bond – Bond that forms when electrons are shared between atoms
Ion – Charged atoms that form from ionic bonds; atoms in which the number of electrons does
not equal the number of protons
Cation – Positively charged ion (# of Protons > # of Electrons)
Anion - Negatively charged ion (# of Electrons > # of Protons)
Valence Electrons – Electrons in outer energy level
Macromolecule – large molecule, such as a protein, carbohydrate, lipid, or nucleic acid that are
made up of monomers
Organic – Any substance containing carbon-based compounds
Monomer – A molecule that is able to bond with other identical molecules to form polymers
Polymer – A molecule that is made up of two or more monomers
Dehydration Synthesis – Process by which monomers are covalently bonded to form polymers;
water is a byproduct
Hydrolysis – Process by which polymers are broken down into monomers after reacting with
water
Enzyme – A protein that acts as a catalyst to speed up chemical reactions; enzymes help to build
up molecules or break them down
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW!
1. What are the 6 characteristics that make up ALL living things?
2. If something is non-living, you should be able to identify the reasons why it is considered nonliving. In other words, what characteristics of living things does this non-living thing NOT have?
3. You should be able to argue using the characteristics of living things whether you think
something is living or not. (eg. Virus, egg, brown grass, seed)
4. Periodic Table of Elements – Be able to identify atomic number, atomic mass, number of
protons, number of neutrons, and number of electrons
a. I have 4 more protons than Lithium. Which element am I?
b. I usually have 18 neutrons in my nucleus. Which element am I?
5. Energy Levels – Know how many electrons elements like to have in their outer energy levels
(valence electrons) to be “happy” (2 for first Energy level, 8 for 2nd and 3rd energy levels)
a. Be able to identify how many MORE electrons elements need in their outer energy level
to become happy (are they going to gain electrons to be happy or lose them? Na vs. F)
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
b. Be able to answer the above question, and also be able to draw in the electrons for
specific elements
c. Why are the Elements in the first group SO reactive in water? Remember that video that
showed Sodium, Lithium, Ceasium, etc. being dropped in water? Hint: It has something
to do with the valence electrons
Know the difference between ionic and covalent bonding.
a. In ionic bonding, when atoms gain or lose electrons, how does that change their overall
charge? Also know that the resulting charges are what causes the atoms to bond
Know the following characteristics of each macromolecule (proteins, lipids, carbohydrates,
nucleic acids)
a. Examples of each (what foods can you find each of the macromolecules in?)
b. Functions
c. Basic structure (eg. Carbohydrates form carbon rings, lipids are long carbon chains,
proteins fold into tangles of amino acids, nucleic acids have a sugar-phosphate
backbone with A,C,G,T bases that form a twisted ladder or double helix)
d. What is the monomer for each?
e. What is the polymer for each?
f. What elements are found in each?
Difference between saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. Which one is good, and which one is
bad? Why? Why is one liquid and one solid at room temperature?
Breakfast Biochemistry Lab –
a. How did you test for sugars, starches, proteins, and fats? (Benedicts Solution in water
bath, Iodine, CuSO4 and NaOH, brown paper  which one test for which
macromolecule?)
REVIEW MACROMOLECULES LECTURE SLIDES ON MY WEBSITE!!! YOU CAN EVEN PRINT THEM
AND USE THEM FOR THE TEST!!!
Know the processes by which polymers are broken down into monomers, and monomers are
put together to form polymers (dehydration synthesis and hydrolysis)
a. What properties of the molecules allows for dehydration synthesis? (H and OH on each
side of macromolecules)
b. What happens with water for each process?
12. Know the role of a catalyst (speed up a chemical reaction)
13. Understand the chart below and how many chemical reactions will probably not happen on
their own because of the large “activation energy”. They need a catalyst to lower the activation
energy so that the reaction can happen.
14. Know that enzymes are the catalysts in living cells.
15. Know the 4 main properties of enzymes:
a. They are proteins
b. They bind to specific substrates at the ACTIVE SITE like a lock and key
c. Enzymes remain unchanged after a reaction, so they can continue doing their job (1
enzyme can bind to one substrate after another after another)
d. Enzymes can become denatured by things like temperature or chemicals (the protein
loses its shape and it can no longer bind to the substrate).  Think of cooking an egg, or
using a curling iron on your hair, or getting a perm.
16. Be able to identify enzyme, substrate, active site if I give you a diagram of it.
17. Enzyme Lab – be able to describe what happened with the cooked live vs. raw liver and what
that tells you about the catalase enzyme in the liver. Also, did the reaction keep happening with
the same liver? What does that tell you about the nature of enzymes? Why did the cooked liver
not react as well as the raw liver? What does this tell you about another characteristic of
enzymes?