Online Chemistry Notes for Students
Arginine Definition Arginine is also known as L-arginine is a semi-essential amino acid among 20 amino acids. It was first isolated by Schulze in 1886 from the lupin seedlings that are particularly abundant in protamines and histones. Arginine is abbreviated as Arg or R. It is a basic amino acid … Read more
What is Alanine? A group of organic compounds that contains amino and carboxyl functional groups is amino acids. If carbon atoms are attached to carboxyl and amino groups then the amino acids are referred to as α-amino acids. Amino acids are amphoteric as they contain both acidic and basic groups … Read more
Reducing Sugar Definition Reducing sugar is a type of sugar that consists of a free aldehyde group or a free ketone group, allowing the molecule to act as a reducing agent. All monosaccharides are reducing sugars, and so are some disaccharides and oligosaccharides. Reducing monosaccharides can further be classified into … Read more
Oxidation Definition Oxidation is a chemical process involving the loss of electrons by a molecule, atom, or ion, which increases the oxidation state of the chemical species. The historical definition of oxidation was based on the addition of oxygen to a compound as oxygen gas was the first known oxidizing … Read more
Fats Definition Fat is a type of nutrient composed of the ester of fatty acids and their mixtures which occur in living beings and are taken up through different food sources. Fats are a category of lipids and are also the most abundant of all lipids found in nature. These … Read more
Enzymes Definition Enzymes are biological molecules that act as biological catalysts and accelerate the rate of chemical reactions in living systems. Enzymes are proteins that act on molecules, known as substrates, in order to produce different molecules called products. Most metabolic processes in biological systems require enzymes so that the … Read more
Glucose Definition Figure: Glucose Structure. Glucose is a simple form of sugar that is the primary source of energy in the living systems. Glucose is the most abundant monosaccharide on earth, which occurs and is utilized by different organisms throughout the world. The primary sources of glucose on earth are … Read more
Deoxyribose Sugar Definition Deoxyribose is a five-carbon monosaccharide which is the sugar that forms the phosphate backbone of DNA molecules. As the name suggests, deoxyribose is formed by the loss of an oxygen atom from ribose sugar. The molecular formula of deoxyribose sugar is H-(C=O)-(CH2)-(CHOH)3-H, and it might exist in … Read more
Cofactors Definition A cofactor is the non-protein part of an enzyme that is essential for the enzyme’s activity as a catalyst. Cofactors, together with the apoenzyme (protein component), form the complete enzyme (holoenzyme). The removal of the cofactor from an enzyme results in the loss of enzymatic activity. Cofactors can … Read more