Q.Write the name of any one aminoacid, sugar, nucleotide and fatty acid.
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🔒 Start your 14-day free trial to unlock the full solution →Concept understanding — Biomolecule Structure Identification
Suppose someone hands you a spoonful of mashed leaf and asks, "What is this actually made of?" You cannot answer just by looking. To find out which chemical compounds are present in a living tissue, biologists follow a careful step-by-step routine, and understanding that routine is the heart of identifying a biomolecule's structure.
The starting move is to break the tissue open and pull its compounds out. A piece of living material — a vegetable, a bit of liver, a leaf — is ground with trichloroacetic acid using a mortar and pestle until it becomes a thick slurry. Straining this slurry splits it into two parts:
- The liquid that passes through, called the acid-soluble pool. This filtrate is astonishingly rich, holding thousands of different organic compounds.
- The material left behind on the cloth, called the acid-insoluble fraction.
Once you have this mixture, you cannot study a molecule's structure while it is jumbled together with thousands of others. So separation techniques are applied one after another until a single compound stands alone — this is called isolating and purifying it. Only when a compound is pure can analytical methods reveal its molecular formula and its likely structure. …
- An amino acid is a small organic molecule with an amino group and a carboxyl group on its alpha-carbon; glycine, the simplest one, has a hydrogen atom as its R group.
- A sugar is a carbohydrate biomolecule; glucose, with the formula of six carbons, twelve hydrogens and six oxygens, is a common example.
- A nucleotide is a nitrogen base joined to a sugar and a phosphate group; adenylic acid, built around the base adenine, is one example. …
A representative example from each biomolecule class: glycine (amino acid), glucose (sugar), adenylic acid (nucleotide), and palmitic acid (fatty acid).
Each major class of small biomolecule can be illustrated with one clear, well-defined example:
- Amino acid - glycine is the simplest amino acid, its alpha-carbon carrying an amino group, a carboxyl group, a hydrogen atom, and a hydrogen atom again as its R group.
- Sugar - glucose is a hexose sugar with the molecular formula made of six carbons, twelve hydrogens and six oxygens, one of the small organic molecules found in the acid-soluble pool of a cell. …
Method: Recalling One Representative Example per Biomolecule Class
This question only asks for one example of each class, so the strategy is to keep a short mental "reference list" of the simplest, most commonly cited member of each biomolecule category, rather than trying to reconstruct the full classification scheme under exam pressure.
For amino acids, glycine is the safest choice because it is the simplest one (its side chain is just a hydrogen atom), so it is easy to describe correctly. For a sugar, glucose is the standard choice since it is the most familiar hexose and its formula (six carbons, twelve hydrogens, six oxygens) is easy to recall. For a nucleotide, remember that a nucleotide = base + sugar + phosphate, so naming a specific one like adenylic acid (built on the base adenine) works well because you can also explain what it's made of. For a fatty acid, pick one with a definite carbon count, such as palmitic …
- AP EAPCET 2024Set ap-2024-05-16-AN1 markMCQQ.Match the following List A: I Aromatic amino acid, II Phospholipid, III Heterocyclic compounds, IV Intracellular ground substance List B: A Lecithin, B Guanine, C Collagen, D Tryptophan, E Valine (A) I-D II-A III-B IV-C (B) I-D II-E III-B IV-A (C) I-E II-A III-B IV-C (D) I-B II-D III-A IV-C
›Reveal solutionSolution
This tests recognizing example molecules for four biomolecule categories: aromatic amino acid, phospholipid, heterocyclic compound, and ground-substance protein.
Concept and Intuition
Biomolecules are classified by their chemical backbone. Aromatic amino acids (Phe, Tyr, Trp) carry a benzene-type ring in their side chain. Phospholipids like lecithin (phosphatidylcholine) have a glycerol backbone, two fatty acid tails, and a phosphate-linked head group, making them amphipathic membrane components. Heterocyclic compounds contain a ring with at least one non-carbon atom - purines like guanine qualify, since their rings include nitrogen. Collagen is the most abundant structural protein, forming the fibrous ground substance of connective tissue.
Step-by-Step Solution
- Aromatic amino acid -> Tryptophan -> D.
- Phospholipid -> Lecithin -> A. …
- AP EAPCET 2024Set ap-2024-05-17-AN1 markMCQQ.Study and match the following lists List-I: A - Lectin, B - Neutral Amino acid, C - Aromatic Amino acid, D - Collagen List-II: I - Tyrosine, II - Protein, III - Concanavalin-A, IV - Valine (A) A-IV B-II C-I D-III (B) A-II B-III C-IV D-I (C) A-III B-IV C-I D-II (D) A-IV B-III C-II D-I
›Reveal solutionSolution
This tests matching four biomolecule categories to their standard textbook examples: Lectin↔Concanavalin-A, Neutral amino acid↔Valine, Aromatic amino acid↔Tyrosine, Collagen↔Protein.
Concept and Intuition
Each pairing here draws on a well-known, specific textbook example for a biomolecule category. Lectins are carbohydrate-binding proteins, and Concanavalin-A (extracted from the jack bean, Canavalia ensiformis) is the most commonly cited example. Amino acids are classified by their side-chain (R group) properties; Valine has a simple branched non-polar aliphatic side chain and is a standard example of a neutral amino acid, while Tyrosine carries a phenolic (aromatic) ring in its side chain, making it an aromatic amino acid. Collagen itself is simply classified as a (structural, fibrous) protein.
Step-by-Step Solution
- A = Lectin → matches III = Concanavalin-A (the archetypal plant lectin).
- B = Neutral Amino acid → matches IV = Valine (simple non-polar/neutral side chain). …
- AP EAPCET 2023Set ap-2023-05-22-AN1 markMCQQ.Find out the correct match Set – I A. Carbohydrates B. Proteins C. Fats D. Nucleic acids Set – II i. Nucleosides, Phosphates ii. Glucose, Fructose, Galactose iii. Amino acids iv. Fatty acids, glycerols (A) A – i, B – iii, C – iv, D – ii (B) A – ii, B – iii, C – i, D – iv (C) A – ii, B – iii, C – iv, D – i (D) A – ii, B – iv, C – iii, D – i
›Reveal solutionSolution
Matching biomolecules to their building blocks: Carbohydrates-sugars, Proteins-amino acids, Fats-fatty acids/glycerol, Nucleic acids-nucleosides/phosphate, giving A-ii, B-iii, C-iv, D-i.
Concept and Intuition
Each major class of biomolecule is built from characteristic monomeric units: carbohydrates from simple sugars (monosaccharides like glucose, fructose, galactose), proteins from amino acids, fats (lipids) from fatty acids and glycerol, and nucleic acids from nucleotides (nucleoside + phosphate + base).
Step-by-Step Solution
- A. Carbohydrates → their monomers are simple sugars: Glucose, Fructose, Galactose = (ii).
- B. Proteins → built from Amino acids = (iii).
- C. Fats → hydrolyse into Fatty acids and glycerol = (iv).
- D. Nucleic acids → built from Nucleosides and Phosphates (nucleotides) = (i). …
- AP EAPCET 2023Set ap-2023-05-23-FN1 markMCQQ.Match the following List I: I) Palmitic acid II) GLUT-4 III) Chitin IV) Cellulose List II: A. Arthopod B. Cotton fibre C. 16C D. Glucose transport List III: i) Protein ii) Complex polysaccharide iii) Amino sugar iv) high no. of –CH2 groups (A) I C iv, II D i, III A ii, IV B iii (B) I B iii, II A iv, III D ii, IV C i (C) I D iii, II C i, III A ii, IV B iv (D) I B iv, II D iii, III C i, IV A ii
›Reveal solutionSolution
A three-list biomolecule match: pair each molecule with its structural/chemical class and its classic example/property.
Concept and Intuition
- Palmitic acid is a 16-carbon (16C) saturated fatty acid; its long hydrocarbon tail is built of many repeating −CH2− groups.
- GLUT-4 is the glucose-transporter protein of muscle/fat cells — a protein whose function is glucose transport.
- Chitin, a structural polysaccharide, forms the arthropod exoskeleton.
- Cellulose, a structural polysaccharide, gives cotton fibre its fibrous character.
Step-by-Step Solution
- Palmitic acid → 16C (List II-C) → high number of −CH2− groups (List III-iv).
- GLUT-4 → glucose transport (List II-D) → protein (List III-i).
- Chitin → arthropod (List II-A) as its classic source/example.
- Cellulose → cotton fibre (List II-B) as its classic source/example. …
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