||
-C-H
(ionized)
| O || -C-OH |
<---> |
O || -C-O- |
<---> |
O- || -C-O |
(ionized)
||
-C-
||
-C-O-R
||
-C-NH2
Important organic chemical FUNCTIONAL GROUPS found in biological molecules (R = any organic group):
| NAME | GROUP | CHEMICAL EXAMPLE | COMMENT | BIOLOGICAL EXAMPLE | |||
| hydroxyl: | -OH | ethanol: CH3-CH2-OH | polar | sugars | |||
| aldehyde: | -CHO | acetaldehyde: CH3-CHO | polar | glucose | |||
| detail: | O || -C-H |
||||||
| carboxylic acid: | -COOH | acetic acid: CH3-COOH | charged (ionized) |
fatty acid | |||
| detail: |
|
||||||
| amine: | -NH2 | methyl amine: CH3-NH2 | charged (ionized) |
amino acid | |||
| detail: | (-NH3+) | ||||||
| ketone: | -CO- | acetone: CH3-CO-CH3 | polar | metabolic intermediate (pyruvic acid) | |||
| detail: | O || -C- |
||||||
| ether: | -O- | ethyl ether: CH3-CH2-O-CH2-CH3 | not so polar (symmetric) | some lipids | |||
| ester: | -COOR | methyl ester of acetic acid: CH3-CO-OCH3 | polar. not charged | fats | |||
| detail: | O || -C-O-R |
||||||
| amide: | -CONH2 | acetamide: CH3-CONH2 | polar, not charged | proteins (asparagine) | |||
| detail: | O || -C-NH2 |
||||||
| sulfhydryl: | -SH2 | 2-mercaptoethanol: HO-CH2-CH2-SH | reducing agent | protein (cysteine) | |||
| disulfide: | -S-S- | R-S-S-R | crosslinks in proteins | protein (cystine) | |||
| phenyl: | |
phenol: C6H5-OH, Ø-OH | hydrophobic | proteins (phenylalanine) | |||