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Natural polymer monomers: DNA, proteins, carbohydrates

Organic chemistry • Synthetic and natural polymers

Key concepts

What you'll likely be quizzed about

  • Nucleotides are the repeating units of DNA.
  • Each nucleotide includes a phosphate group, a five-carbon sugar (deoxyribose), and one of four nitrogenous bases: adenine, thymine, cytosine, or guanine.
  • Nucleotides link through phosphodiester bonds, connecting the phosphate of one to the sugar of the next, creating a sugar-phosphate backbone.
  • The sequence of bases along this backbone encodes genetic information and dictates base-pairing between complementary strands.

Flashcards

Test your knowledge with interactive flashcards

Which bases occur in DNA?

Click to reveal answer

Adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine occur in DNA.

Key notes

Important points to keep in mind

Nucleotides are the monomers of DNA, containing phosphate, deoxyribose, and a base.

Amino acids are the monomers of proteins, containing an amino group, carboxyl group, and R group.

Glucose is the monosaccharide monomer for both starch and cellulose.

α-Glucose forms α-1,4 and α-1,6 bonds in starch, producing helical and branched structures.

β-Glucose forms β-1,4 bonds in cellulose, producing straight chains and strong fibres.

Phosphodiester bonds join nucleotides into a sugar-phosphate backbone.

Peptide bonds join amino acids into polypeptide chains via condensation reactions.

Condensation reactions form bonds by removing water; hydrolysis breaks bonds by adding water.

Branching in starch increases accessibility for enzymes and speeds glucose release.

Hydrogen bonding between cellulose chains contributes to high tensile strength and insolubility.

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