Inorganic biomolecules | Biología 2º BACH

EVERYTHING YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT INORGANIC BIOMOLECULES

Welcome back to my blog, in today's post I present the exciting world of inorganic biomolecules. For this, I have made an infographic where I relate the properties of water with its functions and a diagram of the inorganic biomolecules.

Before entering the subject, I am going to make a brief introduction of the most basic ideas to take into account. Water is the most abundant biomolecule in living beings and represents between 60 and 90% of its weight. It covers most of the earth's surface and is essential for the existence of life on the planet.

Its molecule is an oxygen atom that is covalently bonded to two hydrogen atoms. Water has a weakly negative zone and two weakly positive zones, so it is dipolar, and consequently, weak bonds called hydrogen bonds are formed between its molecules. In the infographic on the right, you can see the properties and related functions.

On the other hand, mineral salts are inorganic biomolecules that can be found in the solid state, dissolved or associated with organic molecules.

In solid or precipitated state they are forming part of skeletal structures. When they are dissolved, depending on the size of the solute particle, they can be in solution or forming a colloidal dispersion. In a solution, its 5 nm particles are in a homogeneous mixture, and its properties are pH stability through buffer systems, osmosis that is explained in the next post, and diffusion. However, in a colloidal dispersion its particles between 5 nm and 200 nm are in a mixture where there is no sedimentation of particles, but they do reflect the light that falls on them like suspended dust. (Tyndall effect) Finally, if they are associated with organic molecules, they form compounds such as phosphoproteins and phospholipids.

As I have said before, the dissolved mineral salts maintain the pH of the internal environment thanks to the buffer or buffer solutions made up of a weak acid and its conjugate base. The most common buffer systems are the phosphate buffer system and bicarbonate. If the concentration of protons in the medium increases by any chemical process, the equilibrium shifts to the right and releases protons into the medium. If, on the other hand, the concentration of protons in the medium decreases, the equilibrium shifts to the left. In the case of the bicarbonate buffer, if there are few protons, H2CO3 dissociates to obtain more and, if there are many protons, they bind to the carbon ion and become more basic.

Once you have seen the main characteristics, I recommend you take a look at the infographic and the biomolecules scheme. Although, this topic does not have much complication and is quite clear and direct.

See you in the next post. ;)

THE MAGIC OF OSMOSIS

Osmosis is a passive diffusion, characterized by the passage of water, solvent, through the semipermeable membrane, from the most dilute solution to the most concentrated.

If the medium is hypertonic, that is, the concentration of salts is higher outside the cell than inside, the water passes through the semi-permeable membrane from the inside of the cell to the outside to equalize both concentrations. This phenomenon is called turgor if it occurs in the plant cell, cytolysis in the animal and hemolysis in the red blood cells. If, on the contrary, the medium is hypotonic, the opposite will happen. The water from the outside will enter the inside of the cell, and this is known as plasmolysis in the plant or creation in the animal. Finally, when both salt concentrations are equal, the medium is said to be isotonic.

Welcome to another entry. Today's topic is mineral salts. Mineral salts are inorganic molecules that can be found in the solid state, dissolved or associated with organic molecules. In the following diagram, I show the most important aspects of this biomolecule. However, I would like to develop more in depth regarding osmosis.

Osmosis occurs in both the animal and plant cells. The only difference is that when the plant cell loses water because it is in a hypertonic environment, even if it contracts and squeezes, it can recover. This is possible thanks to the cell wall, which is elastic and allows the shape to be maintained. However, in the case of the animal cell and the red blood cells, they die from dehydration. Otherwise, in hypotonic solutions, the latter break down, while the plant cell breaks down. Next, I am attaching a drawing that represents the process of osmosis.

Until the next post. ;)

Source: own images.

Information obtained from the syllabus and class.