Review sheet – Chapter 3
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Understand that organic compounds are, by definition, carbon-based
Understand why carbon with its 4 outermost electrons is unparalleled in its ability to form large,
diverse molecules
Understand that carbon completes its outermost shell by sharing electrons in covalent bonds
Understand (and be able to identify) that methane, CH4 is one of the simplest organic
compounds
Know the definition of a hydrocarbon; be able to recognize an example of a hydrocarbon
Understand that carbon skeletons vary in length, can be branched or unbranched, have double
or single bonds, and form rings or not
Be able to recognize the six functional groups vital to organic compounds: hydroxyl, carbonyl,
carboxyl, amino, phosphate, and methyl
Understand that subtle changes in one or more functional groups results in significant changes
in the chemical properties and thus, actions of these molecules (example: testosterone and
estrogen)
Understand that there are 4 important organic molecules: carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and
nucleic acids
Understand what a polymer is, and that it consists of monomers
Understand that carbohydrates, proteins and nucleic acids (and to a lesser extent lipids) are
polymers
Understand dehydration and hydrolysis reactions – which one builds up polymers and which
one breaks them down; how? Know that a polymer and an unlinked monomer have a hydroxyl
group (OH) on one end and an H atom on the other end; how does this facilitate water removal
or addition?
Understand that hydrolysis and dehydration reactions proceed with the help of enzymes;
understand that enzymes speed up and facilitate the chemical reactions in cells
Understand that carbohydrates are made up of hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon
Understand that carbohydrates are made up of monosaccharides monomers
Understand that monosaccharides can be linked together to form polysaccharides
Know that polysaccharides contain many monosaccharides and that disaccharides contain 2
monosaccharides
Understand that glucose is a monosaccharide and is produced by plants during photosynthesis
and serves as the fuel for cellular work
Understand that monosaccharides generally have the molecular formula that is some multiple
of CH2O (ex. C6H12O6)
Understand that glucose is water-soluble (hydrophilic)
Be able to recognize the three disaccharides: maltose, sucrose, and lactose
Understand that a dehydration reaction is required to combine monosaccharides into di- or
poly-saccharides
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Understand that the most common types of polysaccharides are starch, glycogen, cellulose and
chitin
Know the fundamental differences and characteristic of starch, glycogen, cellulose and chitin
Know that starch and glycogen are storage polysaccharides composed of many glucose
molecules
Know that cellulose and chitin are structural polysaccharides
Understand the process of storing and breaking down glucose molecules in the human body
(the roles of glucose, glycogen, insulin, glucagon)
Understand the limitations of cellulose in the animal diet
Understand that lipids include oils, fats, waxes, phospholipids and steroids; know that they
contain carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen linked by nonpolar bonds
Know that lipids contain twice as much energy as carbohydrates
Understand what a fat is (what it is composed of) and why it is called a triglyceride
Understand how dehydration reactions create a fat molecule
Understand the difference between saturated and unsaturated fats; why do unsaturated fats
not contain the maximum amount of hydrogen atoms?, which are solid/liquid at room
temperature?
What roles do triglycerides play? (storage of energy, insulation, etc)
Understand what a phospholipid is; understand the nonpolar and polar components of a
phospholipid
Understand how a phospholipid bilayer provides a cell with a structure (membrane) that
separates the outside of the cell from the inside; be able to draw a phospholipid bilayer
Understand that steroids are lipids that do not contain fatty acids, but are composed of 4
carbon rings fused together
Understand that cholesterol is a common steroid found in animals (not plants)
Be able to recognize estrogen, cortisol, progesterone and cholesterol as steroids
Understand that proteins are built up from 20 different amino acids
Know that amino acids are molecules that have a carboxyl and amino group
Be able to identify an example of a protein or a substance made up of proteins given in class
Know why 8 of the amino acids are considered essential
Understand what a peptide bond is, and that it is a covalent bond
Understand that the shape of a protein determines its function
Know the definition of denaturation
Know and be able to describe the 4 levels of structure of a protein
Know what a prion is and why it is so lethal
Know what a nucleic acid is and what 2 molecules are nucleic acids (DNA and RNA)
Know how RNA and DNA differ in the types of bases (DNA: A,T,C,G; RNA: A, U, C, G)
Know which sugars make up RNA (ribose) and DNA (deoxyribose)
Know the monomers that make up nucleic acids (nucleotides)
Know that nucleotides consists of a phosphate group, a 5-Carbon sugar, and a nitrogenous base
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Know which nitrogenous bases pair up with each other (e.g., A and T in DNA, etc)
Understand how the phosphate group of one nucleotide binds to the sugar of another during
dehydration synthesis
Understand the sugar-phosphate backbone and how nitrogenous bases protrude from this
Understand that DNA is a double helix resulting from 2 polynucleotides wrapping around each
other and held together by hydrogen bonds between their base pairs