Organic Chemistry
This scientist conducted the famous 1953 experiment that demonstrated spontaneous creation of amino acids under primordial Earth conditions.
Who is Stanley Miller?
This functional group with the formula -OH is found in alcohols and combines with carbonyl groups to form carboxyl groups.
What is the hydroxyl group?
This type of bond forms between water molecules due to the attraction between partially positive hydrogen atoms and partially negative oxygen atoms.
What is a hydrogen bond?
Water is called this because it can dissolve more substances than any other liquid.
What is the universal solvent?
The three types of isomers
What are structural isomers, geometric isomers, and enantiomers?
These two variations of the carbonyl functional group are distinguished by whether the carbon is bonded to a hydrogen (making it this) or to two other carbons (making it that).
What are aldehydes and ketones?
Water molecules can form a maximum of this many hydrogen bonds with neighboring water molecules.
What is four?
Substances with this property have an affinity for water and readily dissolve in it, like ionic compounds and polar molecules.
What is hydrophilic?
This property of hydrocarbon chains makes them avoid water because their C-C and C-H bonds lack polarity.
What is hydrophobic?
This functional group containing sulfur helps stabilize protein structure and is found in compounds called thiols.
What is the sulfhydryl group (-SH)?
This property of water allows it to stick to other water molecules, enabling transpiration in plants and creating surface tension.
What is cohesion?
These substances help organisms maintain pH within the narrow range of 6-8 necessary for life by preventing sudden changes in acidity.
What are buffers?
Joan Oró added this compound to his 1959 experiment, which led to the spontaneous formation of adenine, a DNA component.
What is hydrogen cyanide?
This functional group with the formula -H₂PO₄ is crucial for cellular energy storage and transfer, particularly in ATP molecules.
What is the phosphate group?
The unequal sharing of electrons between oxygen and hydrogen creates this type of covalent bond in water molecules.
What is a polar covalent bond?
This organ produces buffers to protect the intestines from the strong acids produced by the stomach.
What is the pancreas?
Carbon's atomic number gives it this many outer electrons, allowing it to form this specific number of covalent bonds that makes it so versatile for organic molecules.
What are four outer electrons and four bonds?
When plants convert inorganic CO₂ and water into glucose using sunlight energy, they demonstrate this fundamental biological process of transforming inorganic compounds into this type of molecule.
What is the transformation of inorganic compounds to organic compounds
This property explains why water beads up on surfaces and allows some insects to walk on water without sinking.
What is surface tension?
This environmental problem occurs when sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides from fossil fuels react with atmospheric water to create precipitation with a pH below 5.6.
What is acid precipitation (or acid rain)?