AP Biology Chapter 4

Carbon and the Molecular Diversity of Life

16 flashcards · Biology · by Tommy Nguyen

  1. Organic Chemistry - the study of carbon - containing molecules.

  2. Carbon has a total of 6 elections.

  3. Carbon has little tendency to form ionic bonds by loosing or gaining 4 electrons.

  4. How does carbon usually complete it's valence shell? By sharing

  5. This tetra-valence by carbon makes large complex molecules.

  6. Carbon atoms readily bond with each other, producing chains or rings of carbon atoms.

  7. What is the simplest organic molecule? hydrocarbons

  8. Hydrocarbons are... A. Non-polar B. Polar A and have what behavior? A. Hydrophobic B. Hydrophillic A

  9. Isomers are compounds with the same molecular formula but different structural arrangements.

  10. Isomers have different molecular and chemical properties.

  11. What are the three types of isomers? structural geometric enantiomer

  12. Geometric isomers - have the same sequence of covalently bonded atoms

  13. Enantiomer isomers - left and right handed versions of each other (mirror images)

  14. Enantiomer isomers usually involve an asymmetric carbon.

  15. Example of a drug that caused severe birth defects - thalidomide

  16. Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and smaller quantities of sulfur and phosphorus, all capable of forming strong covalent bonds, are combined into the complex organic molecules of living matter.