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Carbon and the Molecular Diversity of Life, Molecular complexity and…
Carbon and the Molecular Diversity of Life
Molecular complexity and diversity
Limited assortment of atomic building blocks can be used to build an inexhaustible variety of organic molecules
The atoms can be linked into chains of seemingly infinite variety
Variations
Length
Branching
Presence of rings
Double bond position
Chemical
Hydrocarbons
Reactions that release a relatively large amount of energy
Bodyfat
Isomer
Compounds that have the same numbers of atoms of the same elements but different structures and hence different properties
Structural isomer
Differ in the covalent arrangements of their atoms
Cis-trans isomer
Atoms differ in their spatial arrangements due to the inflex- ibility of double bonds
Single bonds allow the atoms they join to rotate freely about the bond axis without changing
the compound
Enantiomer
Mirror images of each other and that differ in shape due to the presence of an asymmetric carbon, one that is attached to four differ- ent atoms or groups of atoms
Only one isomer is biologically active
Functional group
Has certain properties, such as shape and charge, that cause it to participate in chemical reactions in a characteristic way
Reactive
Increase solubility in water
Amino
Carboxyl
Phosphate
Carbonyl
Hydroxyl
Sulfhydryl
Methyl