Chemistry Basics: Hydrolysis and Amino Acids

Hydrolysis

• Hydrolysis is a chemical reaction where a molecule of water breaks down another molecule.
• An example is the breakdown of triacylglycerol into glycerol and three fatty acids.
• This reaction requires an acid or enzyme catalyst.

Chemical Bonds

• Chemical bonds link atoms to form molecules.

Sulfide Bridges

• Sulfide bridges are covalent bonds that connect the sulfur atoms of two cysteine amino acids.

Amino Acids (Essential)

• Histidine and Methionine are essential amino acids.

Leucine and Isoleucine

• Leucine and Isoleucine are amino acids with respective chemical formulas.

Phenylalanine and Tryptophan

• Phenylalanine and Tryptophan are amino acids with specific chemical structures.

Threonine and Valine

• Threonine and Valine are amino acids with specific chemical structures.

Soap

• Soap can be made in two ways:
  • Fat or oil + strong base (NaOH or KOH)

Polyhydric Alcohols

• Polyhydric alcohols, such as glycerol, can be identified through a reaction with copper(II) under specific conditions to form bright blue complexes.

Acidity/Basicity Definitions

• Arrhenius: acids release H+ ions in water, and bases release OH- ions in water.
• Brønsted-Lowry: acids are proton donors, and bases are proton acceptors.
• Lewis: acids are electron-pair acceptors, and bases are electron-pair donors.

Column Chromatography

• Column chromatography separates compounds based on their polarity or hydrophobicity.

Carboxyl Group + Alcohol → Ester

• This process is called esterification and it typically involves an acid catalyst (like concentrated sulfuric acid).

Strong Acid and Weak Acid Salts

• Strong acids can replace weak acids in salts.
• This happens because the strong acid has a greater tendency to donate hydrogen ions.

Fatty Acid Properties

• Fatty acid absorption is influenced by concentration, light source width, and light flux.

Calculations of pH, pOH, [H⁺] and [OH⁻]

• pH = -log[H₃O⁺]
• pOH = -log[OH⁻]
• pH + pOH = 14
• [H₃O⁺] = 10⁻pH
• [OH⁻] = 10⁻pOH

Reactions in Aldehydes (Not Ketones)

• Aldehydes have a higher reactivity compared to ketones due to the presence of a hydrogen atom directly attached to the carbonyl carbon. This difference in reactivity allows aldehydes to undergo certain reactions that ketones do not.

Phospholipids (Head)

• The phosphate group and the additional functional group make the head of a phospholipid polar.

Peptide Bond Formation

• Amino acids are joined together by a special type of condensation reaction to form peptide bonds.

Tautomerism

• Tautomerism is a type of isomerism where compounds readily interconvert by the migration of a hydrogen ion and the shifting in positions of a double bond between isomers.
• One example is keto-enol tautomerism; an equilibrium that forms between a ketone form and the enol form of a molecule.

Amphoteric Nature of Amino Acids

• Amino acids can act as either acids or bases, depending on the surrounding pH.
• This behavior is largely due to the presence of both amino groups (-NH2) and carboxyl groups (-COOH) in their structures. These groups can either gain or lose protons (H+).