1.
Amide
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An amide, also known as an acid amide, is a compound with the functional group RnExNR′2. Most common are carboxamides, but many other important types of amides are known, the term amide refers both to classes of compounds and to the functional group within those compounds. Amide can also refer to the base of ammonia or of an organic amine. For discussion of these anionic amides, see Alkali metal amides, the remainder of this article is about the carbonyl–nitrogen sense of amide. The simplest amides are derivatives of ammonia wherein one hydrogen atom has replaced by an acyl group. The ensemble is represented as RCNH2 and is described as a primary amide. Closely related and even more numerous are secondary amides which can be derived from amines and have the formula RCNHR′. Tertiary amides are commonly derived from amines and have the general structure RCNR′R″. Amides are usually regarded as derivatives of carboxylic acids in which the group has been replaced by an amine or ammonia. The lone pair of electrons on the nitrogen is delocalized into the carbonyl, consequently, the nitrogen in amides is not pyramidal. It is estimated that acetamide is described by resonance structure A for 62%, in the usual nomenclature, one adds the term amide to the stem of the parent acids name. For instance, the derived from acetic acid is named acetamide. IUPAC recommends ethanamide, but this and related names are rarely encountered. When the amide is derived from a primary or secondary amine, thus, the amide formed from dimethylamine and acetic acid is N, N-dimethylacetamide. Usually even this name is simplified to dimethylacetamide, cyclic amides are called lactams, they are necessarily secondary or tertiary amides. Functional groups consisting of –PNR2 and –SO2NR2 are phosphonamides and sulfonamides, some chemists make a pronunciation distinction between the two, saying /əˈmiːd/ for the carbonyl–nitrogen compound and /ˈeɪmaɪd/ for the anion. Others replace one of these with /ˈæmᵻd/, while others pronounce both /ˈæmᵻd/, making them homonyms. Compared to amines, amides are very weak bases, while the conjugate acid of an amine has a pKa of about 9.5, the conjugate acid of an amide has a pKa around −0.5
2.
Covalent bond
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A covalent bond, also called a molecular bond, is a chemical bond that involves the sharing of electron pairs between atoms. These electron pairs are known as shared pairs or bonding pairs, for many molecules, the sharing of electrons allows each atom to attain the equivalent of a full outer shell, corresponding to a stable electronic configuration. Covalent bonding includes many kinds of interactions, including σ-bonding, π-bonding, metal-to-metal bonding, agostic interactions, bent bonds, the term covalent bond dates from 1939. In the molecule H2, the atoms share the two electrons via covalent bonding. Covalency is greatest between atoms of similar electronegativities, thus, covalent bonding does not necessarily require that the two atoms be of the same elements, only that they be of comparable electronegativity. Covalent bonding that entails sharing of electrons more than two atoms is said to be delocalized. The term covalence in regard to bonding was first used in 1919 by Irving Langmuir in a Journal of the American Chemical Society article entitled The Arrangement of Electrons in Atoms and Molecules. Langmuir wrote that we shall denote by the term covalence the number of pairs of electrons that an atom shares with its neighbors. The idea of covalent bonding can be traced several years before 1919 to Gilbert N. Lewis and he introduced the Lewis notation or electron dot notation or Lewis dot structure, in which valence electrons are represented as dots around the atomic symbols. Pairs of electrons located between atoms represent covalent bonds, multiple pairs represent multiple bonds, such as double bonds and triple bonds. An alternative form of representation, not shown here, has bond-forming electron pairs represented as solid lines, Lewis proposed that an atom forms enough covalent bonds to form a full outer electron shell. In the diagram of methane shown here, the atom has a valence of four and is, therefore, surrounded by eight electrons, four from the carbon itself. Each hydrogen has a valence of one and is surrounded by two electrons – its own one electron plus one from the carbon, walter Heitler and Fritz London are credited with the first successful quantum mechanical explanation of a chemical bond in 1927. Their work was based on the valence bond model, which assumes that a bond is formed when there is good overlap between the atomic orbitals of participating atoms. Atomic orbitals have specific directional properties leading to different types of covalent bonds, sigma bonds are the strongest covalent bonds and are due to head-on overlapping of orbitals on two different atoms. A single bond is usually a σ bond, pi bonds are weaker and are due to lateral overlap between p orbitals. A double bond between two given atoms consists of one σ and one π bond, and a bond is one σ. Covalent bonds are also affected by the electronegativity of the atoms which determines the chemical polarity of the bond
3.
Chemical bond
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A chemical bond is a lasting attraction between atoms that enables the formation of chemical compounds. The bond may result from the force of attraction between atoms with opposite charges, or through the sharing of electrons as in the covalent bonds. Since opposite charges attract via an electromagnetic force, the negatively charged electrons that are orbiting the nucleus. An electron positioned between two nuclei will be attracted to both of them, and the nuclei will be attracted toward electrons in this position and this attraction constitutes the chemical bond. This phenomenon limits the distance between nuclei and atoms in a bond, in general, strong chemical bonding is associated with the sharing or transfer of electrons between the participating atoms. All bonds can be explained by quantum theory, but, in practice, simplification rules allow chemists to predict the strength, directionality, the octet rule and VSEPR theory are two examples. Electrostatics are used to describe bond polarities and the effects they have on chemical substances, a chemical bond is an attraction between atoms. This attraction may be seen as the result of different behaviors of the outermost or valence electrons of atoms and these behaviors merge into each other seamlessly in various circumstances, so that there is no clear line to be drawn between them. However it remains useful and customary to differentiate different types of bond, which result in different properties of condensed matter. In the simplest view of a covalent bond, one or more electrons are drawn into the space between the two atomic nuclei, energy is released by bond formation. This is not as a reduction in energy, because the attraction of the two electrons to the two protons is offset by the electron-electron and proton-proton repulsions. In a polar covalent bond, one or more electrons are shared between two nuclei. Such weak intermolecular bonds give organic molecular substances, such as waxes and oils, their soft bulk character, also, the melting points of such covalent polymers and networks increase greatly. In a simplified view of a bond, the bonding electron is not shared at all. In this type of bond, the atomic orbital of one atom has a vacancy which allows the addition of one or more electrons. These newly added electrons potentially occupy a lower energy-state than they experience in a different atom, thus, one nucleus offers a more tightly bound position to an electron than does another nucleus, with the result that one atom may transfer an electron to the other. This transfer causes one atom to assume a net charge. The bond then results from electrostatic attraction between atoms and the atoms become positive or negatively charged ions, ionic bonds may be seen as extreme examples of polarization in covalent bonds
4.
Amino acid
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Amino acids are organic compounds containing amine and carboxyl functional groups, along with a side chain specific to each amino acid. The key elements of an acid are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen. About 500 amino acids are known and can be classified in many ways, in the form of proteins, amino acids comprise the second-largest component of human muscles, cells and other tissues. Outside proteins, amino acids perform critical roles in such as neurotransmitter transport. In biochemistry, amino acids having both the amine and the acid groups attached to the first carbon atom have particular importance. They are known as 2-, alpha-, or α-amino acids and they include the 22 proteinogenic amino acids, which combine into peptide chains to form the building-blocks of a vast array of proteins. These are all L-stereoisomers, although a few D-amino acids occur in bacterial envelopes, as a neuromodulator, twenty of the proteinogenic amino acids are encoded directly by triplet codons in the genetic code and are known as standard amino acids. The other two are selenocysteine, and pyrrolysine, pyrrolysine and selenocysteine are encoded via variant codons, for example, selenocysteine is encoded by stop codon and SECIS element. N-formylmethionine is generally considered as a form of methionine rather than as a separate proteinogenic amino acid, codon–tRNA combinations not found in nature can also be used to expand the genetic code and create novel proteins known as alloproteins incorporating non-proteinogenic amino acids. Many important proteinogenic and non-proteinogenic amino acids also play critical roles within the body. Nine proteinogenic amino acids are called essential for humans because they cannot be created from other compounds by the human body, others may be conditionally essential for certain ages or medical conditions. Essential amino acids may also differ between species, because of their biological significance, amino acids are important in nutrition and are commonly used in nutritional supplements, fertilizers, and food technology. Industrial uses include the production of drugs, biodegradable plastics, the first few amino acids were discovered in the early 19th century. In 1806, French chemists Louis-Nicolas Vauquelin and Pierre Jean Robiquet isolated a compound in asparagus that was subsequently named asparagine, cystine was discovered in 1810, although its monomer, cysteine, remained undiscovered until 1884. Glycine and leucine were discovered in 1820, usage of the term amino acid in the English language is from 1898. Proteins were found to yield amino acids after enzymatic digestion or acid hydrolysis, in the structure shown at the top of the page, R represents a side chain specific to each amino acid. The carbon atom next to the group is called the α–carbon. Amino acids containing an amino group bonded directly to the alpha carbon are referred to as amino acids
5.
Carbon
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Carbon is a chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent—making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds, three isotopes occur naturally, 12C and 13C being stable, while 14C is a radioactive isotope, decaying with a half-life of about 5,730 years. Carbon is one of the few elements known since antiquity, Carbon is the 15th most abundant element in the Earths crust, and the fourth most abundant element in the universe by mass after hydrogen, helium, and oxygen. It is the second most abundant element in the body by mass after oxygen. The atoms of carbon can bond together in different ways, termed allotropes of carbon, the best known are graphite, diamond, and amorphous carbon. The physical properties of carbon vary widely with the allotropic form, for example, graphite is opaque and black while diamond is highly transparent. Graphite is soft enough to form a streak on paper, while diamond is the hardest naturally occurring material known, graphite is a good electrical conductor while diamond has a low electrical conductivity. Under normal conditions, diamond, carbon nanotubes, and graphene have the highest thermal conductivities of all known materials, all carbon allotropes are solids under normal conditions, with graphite being the most thermodynamically stable form. They are chemically resistant and require high temperature to react even with oxygen, the most common oxidation state of carbon in inorganic compounds is +4, while +2 is found in carbon monoxide and transition metal carbonyl complexes. The largest sources of carbon are limestones, dolomites and carbon dioxide, but significant quantities occur in organic deposits of coal, peat, oil. For this reason, carbon has often referred to as the king of the elements. The allotropes of carbon graphite, one of the softest known substances, and diamond. It bonds readily with other small atoms including other carbon atoms, Carbon is known to form almost ten million different compounds, a large majority of all chemical compounds. Carbon also has the highest sublimation point of all elements, although thermodynamically prone to oxidation, carbon resists oxidation more effectively than elements such as iron and copper that are weaker reducing agents at room temperature. Carbon is the element, with a ground-state electron configuration of 1s22s22p2. Its first four ionisation energies,1086.5,2352.6,4620.5 and 6222.7 kJ/mol, are higher than those of the heavier group 14 elements. Carbons covalent radii are normally taken as 77.2 pm,66.7 pm and 60.3 pm, although these may vary depending on coordination number, in general, covalent radius decreases with lower coordination number and higher bond order. Carbon compounds form the basis of all life on Earth
6.
Nitrogen
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Nitrogen is a chemical element with symbol N and atomic number 7. It was first discovered and isolated by Scottish physician Daniel Rutherford in 1772, although Carl Wilhelm Scheele and Henry Cavendish had independently done so at about the same time, Rutherford is generally accorded the credit because his work was published first. Nitrogen is the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, the name comes from the Greek πνίγειν to choke, directly referencing nitrogens asphyxiating properties. It is an element in the universe, estimated at about seventh in total abundance in the Milky Way. At standard temperature and pressure, two atoms of the element bind to form dinitrogen, a colourless and odorless diatomic gas with the formula N2, dinitrogen forms about 78% of Earths atmosphere, making it the most abundant uncombined element. Nitrogen occurs in all organisms, primarily in amino acids, in the nucleic acids, the human body contains about 3% nitrogen by mass, the fourth most abundant element in the body after oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen. The nitrogen cycle describes movement of the element from the air, into the biosphere and organic compounds, many industrially important compounds, such as ammonia, nitric acid, organic nitrates, and cyanides, contain nitrogen. The extremely strong bond in elemental nitrogen, the second strongest bond in any diatomic molecule. Synthetically produced ammonia and nitrates are key industrial fertilisers, and fertiliser nitrates are key pollutants in the eutrophication of water systems. Apart from its use in fertilisers and energy-stores, nitrogen is a constituent of organic compounds as diverse as Kevlar used in high-strength fabric, Nitrogen is a constituent of every major pharmacological drug class, including antibiotics. Many notable nitrogen-containing drugs, such as the caffeine and morphine or the synthetic amphetamines. Nitrogen compounds have a long history, ammonium chloride having been known to Herodotus. They were well known by the Middle Ages, alchemists knew nitric acid as aqua fortis, as well as other nitrogen compounds such as ammonium salts and nitrate salts. The mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids was known as aqua regia, celebrated for its ability to dissolve gold, the discovery of nitrogen is attributed to the Scottish physician Daniel Rutherford in 1772, who called it noxious air. Though he did not recognise it as a different chemical substance, he clearly distinguished it from Joseph Blacks fixed air. The fact that there was a component of air that does not support combustion was clear to Rutherford, Nitrogen was also studied at about the same time by Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Henry Cavendish, and Joseph Priestley, who referred to it as burnt air or phlogisticated air. Nitrogen gas was inert enough that Antoine Lavoisier referred to it as air or azote, from the Greek word άζωτικός. In an atmosphere of nitrogen, animals died and flames were extinguished
7.
Peptide
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Peptides are biologically occurring short chains of amino acid monomers linked by peptide bonds. The covalent chemical bonds are formed when the group of one amino acid reacts with the amine group of another. The shortest peptides are dipeptides, consisting of 2 amino acids joined by a peptide bond, followed by tripeptides, tetrapeptides. A polypeptide is a long, continuous, and unbranched peptide chain, hence, peptides fall under the broad chemical classes of biological oligomers and polymers, alongside nucleic acids, oligosaccharides and polysaccharides, etc. Peptides are distinguished from proteins on the basis of size, all peptides except cyclic peptides have an N-terminal and C-terminal residue at the end of the peptide. Ribosomal peptides Ribosomal peptides are synthesized by translation of mRNA and they are often subjected to proteolysis to generate the mature form. These function, typically in higher organisms, as hormones and signaling molecules, some organisms produce peptides as antibiotics, such as microcins. Since they are translated, the amino acid residues involved are restricted to those utilized by the ribosome, however, these peptides frequently have posttranslational modifications such as phosphorylation, hydroxylation, sulfonation, palmitoylation, glycosylation and disulfide formation. In general, they are linear, although lariat structures have been observed, more exotic manipulations do occur, such as racemization of L-amino acids to D-amino acids in platypus venom. Nonribosomal peptides Nonribosomal peptides are assembled by enzymes that are specific to each peptide, the most common non-ribosomal peptide is glutathione, which is a component of the antioxidant defenses of most aerobic organisms. Other nonribosomal peptides are most common in organisms, plants. These complexes are often out in a similar fashion. These peptides are often cyclic and can have highly complex cyclic structures, since the system is closely related to the machinery for building fatty acids and polyketides, hybrid compounds are often found. The presence of oxazoles or thiazoles often indicates that the compound was synthesized in this fashion, Peptones See also Tryptone Peptones are derived from animal milk or meat digested by proteolysis. In addition to containing small peptides, the material includes fats, metals, salts, vitamins. Peptones are used in nutrient media for growing bacteria and fungi, Peptide fragments Peptide fragments refer to fragments of proteins that are used to identify or quantify the source protein. Peptides received prominence in molecular biology for several reasons, the first is that peptides allow the creation of peptide antibodies in animals without the need of purifying the protein of interest. This involves synthesizing antigenic peptides of sections of the protein of interest and these will then be used to make antibodies in a rabbit or mouse against the protein
8.
Protein
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Proteins are large biomolecules, or macromolecules, consisting of one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, responding to stimuli, a linear chain of amino acid residues is called a polypeptide. A protein contains at least one long polypeptide, short polypeptides, containing less than 20–30 residues, are rarely considered to be proteins and are commonly called peptides, or sometimes oligopeptides. The individual amino acid residues are bonded together by peptide bonds, the sequence of amino acid residues in a protein is defined by the sequence of a gene, which is encoded in the genetic code. In general, the code specifies 20 standard amino acids, however. Sometimes proteins have non-peptide groups attached, which can be called prosthetic groups or cofactors, proteins can also work together to achieve a particular function, and they often associate to form stable protein complexes. Once formed, proteins only exist for a period of time and are then degraded and recycled by the cells machinery through the process of protein turnover. A proteins lifespan is measured in terms of its half-life and covers a wide range and they can exist for minutes or years with an average lifespan of 1–2 days in mammalian cells. Abnormal and or misfolded proteins are degraded more rapidly due to being targeted for destruction or due to being unstable. Like other biological macromolecules such as polysaccharides and nucleic acids, proteins are essential parts of organisms, many proteins are enzymes that catalyse biochemical reactions and are vital to metabolism. Proteins also have structural or mechanical functions, such as actin and myosin in muscle and the proteins in the cytoskeleton, other proteins are important in cell signaling, immune responses, cell adhesion, and the cell cycle. In animals, proteins are needed in the diet to provide the essential amino acids that cannot be synthesized, digestion breaks the proteins down for use in the metabolism. Methods commonly used to study structure and function include immunohistochemistry, site-directed mutagenesis, X-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance. Most proteins consist of linear polymers built from series of up to 20 different L-α-amino acids, all proteinogenic amino acids possess common structural features, including an α-carbon to which an amino group, a carboxyl group, and a variable side chain are bonded. Only proline differs from this structure as it contains an unusual ring to the N-end amine group. The amino acids in a chain are linked by peptide bonds. Once linked in the chain, an individual amino acid is called a residue, and the linked series of carbon, nitrogen. The peptide bond has two forms that contribute some double-bond character and inhibit rotation around its axis, so that the alpha carbons are roughly coplanar
9.
Isopeptide bond
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An isopeptide bond is an amide bond that is not present on the main chain of a protein. The bond forms between the terminus of one protein and the amino group of a lysine residue on another protein. Isopeptide bonds can occur between the side chain amine of lysine and the side chain carboxyl groups of either glutamate or aspartate, spontaneous isopeptide bond formation requires the presence of another residue, glutamic acid, which catalyzes bond formation in a proximity induced manner. An example of a peptide containing an isopeptide bond is glutathione. The function of enzyme generated isopeptide bonds can be divided into two separate categories, signaling and structure. In the case of the former these can be a range of functions, influencing protein function, chromatin condensation. Cholerae, and modifying the properties micro-tubilin to influence its role in the structure of a cell, the chemistry involved in the formation of these isopeptide bonds also tend to fall into these two categories. The chemistries of isopeptide bond formation are divided in the manner as their biological roles. While there are many related proteins to Ubiquitin, such as SUMO, Atg8, Atg12, therefore, the best example is to look at Ubiquitin, as while there can be certain differences, Ubiquitin is essentially the model followed in all these cases. The process essentially has three tiers, in the step, the activating protein generally denominated as E1 activates the Ubiquitin protein by adenylating it with ATP. The activating E1 enzyme then binds with and transfers the Ubiquitin to the next tier, however, it should be noted that in final tier, there is also a divergence, in that depending on the type of E3 ligase, it may not actually be causing the conjugation. Yet in case of RING finger domain containing that use coordination bonds with Zinc ions to stabilize their structures, the enzymatic chemistry involved in the formation of isopeptides for structural purposes, is different from the case of ubiquitin and ubiquitin related proteins. In that instead of steps involving multiple enzymes to activate, conjugate. The catalysis is performed by one enzyme and the only precursor step, however, the uniformity that exists in the ubiquitin’s case is not so here, as there are numerous different enzymes all performing the reaction of forming the isopeptide bond. The first case is that of the sortases, a family that is spread throughout numerous gram positive bacteria. It has been shown to be an important pathogenicity and virulence factor, the general reaction performed by sortases involves using its own brand of the ‘catalytic triad’, i. e. using histidine, arginine, and cysteine for the reactive mechanism. An ion that can play an important although indirect role in the enzymatic reaction is calcium. It plays an important role in holding the structure of the enzyme in the conformation for catalysis
10.
Dehydration reaction
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In chemistry and the biological sciences, a dehydration reaction is usually defined as a chemical reaction that involves the loss of a water molecule from the reacting molecule. Dehydration reactions are a subset of condensation reactions, because the hydroxyl group is a poor leaving group, having a Brønsted acid catalyst often helps by protonating the hydroxyl group to give the better leaving group, –OH2+. The reverse of a reaction is a hydration reaction. Common dehydrating agents used in organic synthesis include concentrated sulfuric acid, concentrated phosphoric acid, hot aluminium oxide, dehydration reactions and dehydration synthesis have the same meaning, and are often used interchangeably. Two monosaccharides, such as glucose and fructose, can be joined together using dehydration synthesis, the new molecule, consisting of two monosaccharides, is called a disaccharide. The process of hydrolysis is the reaction, meaning that the water is recombined with the two hydroxyl groups and the disaccharide reverts to being monosaccharides. In the related condensation reaction water is released two different reactants. In organic synthesis, there are examples of dehydration reaction
