Functional Groups of carbon
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Organic chemistry, functional groups are specific substituents or moieties within molecules that may be responsible for the characteristic chemical reactions of those molecules. The same functional group will undergo the same or similar chemical reaction regardless of the size of the molecule it is a part of.
Large biological molecules are generally composed of a carbon skeleton (made up of carbon and hydrogen atoms) and some other atoms, including oxygen, nitrogen, or sulfur. Often, these additional atoms appear in the context of functional groups. Functional groups are chemical motifs, or patterns of atoms, that display consistent “function” (properties and reactivity) regardless of the exact molecule they are found in. Biological molecules can contain many different types and combinations of functional groups, and a biomolecule’s particular set of groups will affect many of its properties, including its structure, solubility, and reactivity.
A few of the most important functional groups in biological molecules are shown in the table below. Functional groups can be classified as hydrophobic or hydrophilic based on their charge and polarity characteristics. The only hydrophobic group below is the methyl (CH_3
3
start subscript, 3, end subscript) group, which is nonpolar. The remaining six functional groups in the table all have varying degrees of hydrophilic character.
One example of a strongly hydrophilic group is the carboxyl group (COOH), which can act as an acid and lose a proton to form a negatively-charged carboxylate ion (COO^-
−
start superscript, minus, end superscript). Carboxyl groups are commonly found in amino acids, fatty acids, and other biomolecules. An example of a less hydrophilic group is the carbonyl group (C=O), an uncharged but polar (contains partial positive and partial negative charges) functional group. Carbonyls are found in many different biological molecules, including proteins, peptides, and carbohydrates.