Biological molecules and natural products

[Studic]

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I'm not sure whether this is the right place/website to ask this question, or whether I'm in the correct place on this forum but here goes:
I've heard about Biological molecules (Carbohydrates. proteins. Lipids. Etc) and natural products (Terpenes, Alkaloids and steroids). I wanna know what's the difference between these two? Are they all produced in the body? Can carbohydrates be classed as terpenes? Or are these natural products a product of interactions and reactions of these biological molecules?
I wanna know how these two groups link up. (I'm pretty sure this is a dumb question but hey, we all started dumb!)

Another question I've got in mind is what color would blue litmus turn if placed in boiling water? Would it turn red cause the ph of boiling water is low, or would it remain blue since boiling water is neutral? Basically, does the ph range for each colour change with temperature? Or is it static? Will ph 3 always give the red color regardless of the temperature??

 

[Psai]

take intro chemistry

 

[deleted407021]

Definitely not the appropriate forum. Try some other websites where people answer such questions. Perhaps here.

 

[VitaminVater]

I'm not sure whether this is the right place/website to ask this question, or whether I'm in the correct place on this forum but here goes:
I've heard about Biological molecules (Carbohydrates. proteins. Lipids. Etc) and natural products (Terpenes, Alkaloids and steroids). I wanna know what's the difference between these two? Are they all produced in the body? Can carbohydrates be classed as terpenes? Or are these natural products a product of interactions and reactions of these biological molecules?
I wanna know how these two groups link up. (I'm pretty sure this is a dumb question but hey, we all started dumb!)

Another question I've got in mind is what color would blue litmus turn if placed in boiling water? Would it turn red cause the ph of boiling water is low, or would it remain blue since boiling water is neutral? Basically, does the ph range for each colour change with temperature? Or is it static? Will ph 3 always give the red color regardless of the temperature??

J Senpai is right that this is not the right forum for these type of questions but I'll gladly answer the first one.

The difference between biological molecules (or macromolecules) and natural products is mainly size. Biological molecules are relatively giant (>1,000 Da) and are almost always made up of much smaller subunits (i.e., proteins made up of amino acids). These units are often held together by covalent bonds, electrostatic interactions, and hydrophobic interactions. Natural products on the other hand are individual molecules of relatively low molecular weight (<9,000 Da) and may look something like this.
The "natural" part is only to separate between natural products which are made by the body and occur in nature, from the much broader term of small molecule which also includes synthetic products not found in nature.
Biological molecules are also from nature but we wouldn't use the designation of natural product to describe them.

 

[Studic]

J Senpai is right that this is not the right forum for these type of questions but I'll gladly answer the first one.

The difference between biological molecules (or macromolecules) and natural products is mainly size. Biological molecules are relatively giant (>1,000 Da) and are almost always made up of much smaller subunits (i.e., proteins made up of amino acids). These units are often held together by covalent bonds, electrostatic interactions, and hydrophobic interactions. Natural products on the other hand are individual molecules of relatively low molecular weight (<9,000 Da) and may look something like this.
The "natural" part is only to separate between natural products which are made by the body and occur in nature, from the much broader term of small molecule which also includes synthetic products not found in nature.
Biological molecules are also from nature but we wouldn't use the designation of natural product to describe them.

I appreciate your answer, it cleared a few misconceptions I've had. Thank you. But could you also clear these doubts as well?

Can an amino acid be considered a alkaloid, or a molecular unit of a macro molecule be considered one of the natural products?

Are these two separate categories, where we categories molecules in two different ways or are they mutually exclusive groups, where a natural product cannot be considered a biological molecule and vice versa?


I'm currently on holiday and cannot wait till the academic semester starts to get these doubts solved. I'll try to make use of other websites. 🙂

 

[Studic]

Is there a website/forum that I could use to clear doubts related to my studies on medicine and interact with other medical students? Like for A level, I used studentroom to share ideas about A level stuff with so many different kinds of people.

 

[GiantPanda1]

I don't know why people are ridiculing OP regarding his Chemistry skills. The second question was a really good one. Technically, as temperature increases, both pH and pOH decrease proportionately. So while there is a lower pH, it is technically neutral water. I tried googling for an answer and couldn't find one. I realize that I'm in a laboratory with the resources to figure it out. The litmus paper wasn't really reactive so the results are inconclusive but here's a picture for everyone's enjoyment. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0mrkNoqAKRQRU1DenNsNEtBNTg/view?usp=sharing

 

[Goro]

Google is your friend

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

I don't know why people are ridiculing OP regarding his Chemistry skills. The second question was a really good one. Technically, as temperature increases, both pH and pOH decrease proportionately. So while there is a lower pH, it is technically neutral water. I tried googling for an answer and couldn't find one. I realize that I'm in a laboratory with the resources to figure it out. The litmus paper wasn't really reactive so the results are inconclusive but here's a picture for everyone's enjoyment. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0mrkNoqAKRQRU1DenNsNEtBNTg/view?usp=sharing

Yah this seems like a results of the autoprotolysis of water, which is governed by the value of Kw, which is of course influenced by the temperature of the reaction. Regardless though, the ratio of H+ to OH- should remain the same, so the water would be neutral, but wouldn't the pH get lower as you raise the temperature? It just changes the neutral pH right?

 

[Doug Underhill]

http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Physica...Temperature_Dependent_of_the_pH_of_pure_Water

The pH decreases. The pOH also decreases. Therefore, the pKw must decrease and the Kw increases. Note that this is different from the pH of water exposed to air, which also decreases, but for a different reason: CO2 is absorbed into it.

 

[Psai]

I don't know why people are ridiculing OP regarding his Chemistry skills. The second question was a really good one. Technically, as temperature increases, both pH and pOH decrease proportionately. So while there is a lower pH, it is technically neutral water. I tried googling for an answer and couldn't find one. I realize that I'm in a laboratory with the resources to figure it out. The litmus paper wasn't really reactive so the results are inconclusive but here's a picture for everyone's enjoyment. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0mrkNoqAKRQRU1DenNsNEtBNTg/view?usp=sharing

...

 

[GiantPanda1]

Yah this seems like a results of the autoprotolysis of water, which is governed by the value of Kw, which is of course influenced by the temperature of the reaction. Regardless though, the ratio of H+ to OH- should remain the same, so the water would be neutral, but wouldn't the pH get lower as you raise the temperature? It just changes the neutral pH right?

That's what makes it interesting. I think the conjugation of the pi system is disrupted via protonation causing the color shift. Experimental set up for above was sterile, autoclaved beakers and the water was deionized filtered at 0.22 um. I'm afraid contamination with the CO2 in the air lowers pH. According to research gate, the pH goes as low as 5.6 which explains why my litmus paper came out acidic but my pH meter said the pH of the water was 8... My lab has a nitrogen chamber but I felt like it would be too much to set it up for this. Boiling water causes CO2 to leave the water so pH might actually increase. Also, the fancy newer litmus paper wasn't really reacting with the water but my 1 N (should be equivalent to 1 M) HCl worked. I found some old school ~35 year old litmus paper new in wrapper that reacted much more quickly hence why the water is a little yellow from the litmus paper leeching into solution. So after all this, I can with confidence say I still have no idea the answer to OP's question.

 

[Studic]

Definitely not the appropriate forum. Try some other websites where people answer such questions. Perhaps here.

Hey. Do you mean that the questions aren't appropriate for this forum because it's not that medical in nature? Or do you mean to say that questions of this sort aren't welcomed here, regardless of the subject matter?

 

[deleted407021]

Hey. Do you mean that the questions aren't appropriate for this forum because it's not that medical in nature? Or do you mean to say that questions of this sort aren't welcomed here, regardless of the subject matter?

The rule of thumb is : "SDN isn't for homework help".

If this is MCAT related, you might post it in the MCAT subforum. But the link I posted is probably much better.

 

[Studic]

I don't know why people are ridiculing OP regarding his Chemistry skills. The second question was a really good one. Technically, as temperature increases, both pH and pOH decrease proportionately. So while there is a lower pH, it is technically neutral water. I tried googling for an answer and couldn't find one. I realize that I'm in a laboratory with the resources to figure it out. The litmus paper wasn't really reactive so the results are inconclusive but here's a picture for everyone's enjoyment. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0mrkNoqAKRQRU1DenNsNEtBNTg/view?usp=sharing

http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Physica...Temperature_Dependent_of_the_pH_of_pure_Water

The pH decreases. The pOH also decreases. Therefore, the pKw must decrease and the Kw increases. Note that this is different from the pH of water exposed to air, which also decreases, but for a different reason: CO2 is absorbed into it.

The fact that ph of a substance decreases with temperature as well as that the neutral pH decreases with temperature is well known to me.
But suppose you insert an indicator test strip in water at room temperature and then you gradual heat it. Then would the colour remain the same since its neutral all the while or will it change to colours lower down on the scale since pH drops?
You know, there's a range of pH for a particular colour right? Is this range independent of temperature?
Perhaps this knowledge is irrelevant, but I wanna know whether arbitrary indication solutions and strips can be used at different temperatures with accuracy?

 

[Studic]

The rule of thumb is : "SDN isn't for homework help".

If this is MCAT related, you might post it in the MCAT subforum. But the link I posted is probably much better.

Point taken

 

[drmerbear]

No, carbs cannot be terpenes. Terpenes are made of 5 carbon isoprene units and carbs fall within the Cx(H2O)x empirical formula and are often seen as polymers of sugar units seen in glycogen or starch.

 

[Law2Doc]

Hey. Do you mean that the questions aren't appropriate for this forum because it's not that medical in nature? Or do you mean to say that questions of this sort aren't welcomed here, regardless of the subject matter?

This forum is devoted to topics of interest and help with respect to premedical (usually college students) seeking admission to allopathic medical schools. So questions of basic science and chemistry are simply off topic. Questions relating to the application process, admissions process, prerequisites, interviews and the like are the focus here. So if you had asked "how much do I really have to know about pH and litmus tests for medical school?" that would be totally appropriate, but asking "what happens to the litmus paper when you boil it" is not. As for knowing carbohydrates, steroids etc, you'll get plenty of that in the prereqs and in biochem, but as mentioned this isn't a forum to get homework help.

 

[Psai]

nvm

 

[Winged Scapula]

SDN is not for homework help: closing.