Overview
Carbon compounds are essential to life, and are the basis of organic chemistry. Carbon is a versatile element that can form bonds with other elements that are necessary to living organisms. Carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids, and proteins are some important types of organic compounds.
Figure 1: Types of carbon compounds that are essential to life.
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are very large molecules, also called macromolecules, that are made of the elements carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. They are used as an energy source for metabolism in various types of sugars and are stored in plants as starches. Sugars join together in long chains that become starches. They can join in long chains because of the bonding properties of carbon.
Figure 2: A chemical diagram showing how sugars join in chains to form starches.
Lipids
Lipids are molecules that contain carbon and hydrogen, and are not water-soluble. Some of the many types of lipids include fats and oils. They can be converted into energy, and are also contained in cellular membranes and organelles. Lipids such as steroids serve as chemical messengers.
Figure 3: Fats and oils contain lipids.
Nucleic acids
Nucleic acids include DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and RNA (ribonucleic acid). They store and transmit genetic information, and are essential to life. The order within the DNA or RNA macromolecule follows a specific sequence or genetic code. They are found in all forms of life. DNA molecules are some of the largest molecules known.
Figure 4: Nucleic acids contain specific sequences of information.
Proteins
Proteins include nitrogen as well as carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen. They differ from one another by the sequence of amino acids they contain. They help to carry out chemical reactions, transport molecules from one location to another, as well as other functions necessary to life. Antibodies are special types of proteins that fight disease. Some form of protein exists in every cell within an organism.
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