1. Cell structure and Function
1.6.Chemical Constituents of Cell- Carbohydrates
Chemical constituents of cell -Carbohydrates
Dr V Malathi and Mrs Sushumna Rao
Elements in Living Cells
The most abundant element in cells include hydrogen (H), followed by carbon (C), oxygen (O), nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), and sulfur (S). These elements are the , and they account for about 99% of the dry weight of cells.
Some elements called as as they are required only in small amounts by the cell. These elements include sodium (Na), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), calcium (Ca), molybdenum (Mo), copper (Cu), cobalt (Co), manganese (Mn), or vanadium (Va). These are essential to the function of many biochemical reactions, and, therefore, are essential to life.
Molecules in Cell
“Molecules in cell” by Openstax is licensed under CC BY 4.0
Living organisms also contain inorganic compounds mainly water and salts .Inorganic compounds do not contain carbon. Carbon oxides and carbonates are exceptions; they contain carbon but are considered inorganic because they do not contain hydrogen. Inorganic compounds account for about 1%–1.5% of the mass of a living cell.
Water accounts for about 70% of a cell’s weight,
Cells contain four major families of small organic molecules. The small organic molecules of the cell are carbon-based compounds whose molecular weights range from 100 to 1000 and contain up to 30 or more carbon atoms. They are usually found free in solution and have many different fates. They molecules can be as monomers or they can join to form polymeric macromolecules like the proteins, nucleic acids, and polysaccharides.
Some of these molecules act as energy sources and some of them are broken down and transformed into other small molecules through various intracellular metabolic pathways. Many small molecules have more than one role in the cell. Small organic molecules are much less abundant than the organic macromolecules. They constitute only about one-tenth of the total mass of organic matter in a cell . The four major small organic molecule of the cell include the sugars, the fatty acids, the amino acids, and the nucleotides .
Significant Functional Groups in molecules of the cell
“Functional groups “ by Openstax is licensed under CC BY 4.0
The symbol R in the table stands for “residue” and represents the remainder of the molecule. R might symbolize just a single hydrogen atom or it may represent a group of many atoms.
Macromolecules
Carbon chains form the skeletons of most organic molecules and functional groups combine with this chain to form biomolecules. As these biomolecules are large they are called Biological macromolecules are formed by linking together a number of identical, or very similar, smaller organic molecules. Cells contain four main groups of carbon-containing macromolecules:. They are polysaccharides, proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids. The
| Monomers | Macromolecule | Functions |
| Sugars | Carbohydrates-Polysaccha