Introduction
Welcome! At first - do you know what are these natural products? Those are naturally occurring chemical substances or compounds produced by a living organism - found in nature. There are classes of these products:
- Carbohydrates;
- Lipids;
- Proteins and amino acids;
- Nucleic acids.
All of this is studied in biochemistry and for this lesson, I want to make you feel like a biochemist - learn and try to understand. Let us continue with a task for you.
Task
Your task is broken into three steps:
First and foremost, you should check out the material that is given on the ''Process'' page. Try to understand and learn what should be learned to pass the little test that checks your knowledge, but that is only the third step so don't worry.
Second step: using what you already know. There will be a table you should fill in to revise everything for your test. And last but not least - the little test to check what you have learned. I wish you good luck!
Process
Read through all the points and only then start.
1. Your material is here.
It might seem too much of information, but I suggest to not to study everything that is written there. This material is for students of the chemistry faculty, so you don't need to know everything for you high school course of chemistry. I would like to read through the classes of the natural products and know how they differ, see examples and know which one is which.
2. Make your own table like this one and fill it in so it has all the information you'll need for your test.
| Name of the class and info needed | Description | Types | Structure | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carbohydrates | ||||
| Lipids | ||||
| Proteins & amino acids | ||||
| Nucleic acids |
3. Test your newly acquired skills.
| Number | Question | Answers |
| 1. | Carbohydrates originate as products of: | A configuration B metabolism C photosynthesis |
| 2. | Oligosaccharides complexity: | A simple B complex C formative |
| 3. | Glucose is not | A fructose B formetose C saccharose |
| 4. | Fats can not be | A accumulative B saturated C unsaturated |
| 5. | Waxes are | A byproduct of bees B esters of fatty acids C for water consumption |
| 6. | Cholesterol is | A steroid B carbohydrate C acid |
| 7. | Proteins and peptides are composed of | A 50% oxygen B 75 to 85% carbon C 15 to 25% nitrogen |
| 8. | Natural amino acid is not | A Alanine B Santiphan C Histide |
| 9. | Gene is a | A cell B DNA C polypeptide |
| 10. | Nucleic acids may be formulated as | A copolymers of phosphoric acid and nucleosides B genetic material C synthetic polymers |
Evaluation
Answers to test:
| Number | Question | Answers |
| 1. | Carbohydrates originate as products of: | A configuration B metabolism C photosynthesis |
| 2. | Oligosaccharides complexity: | A simple B complex C formative |
| 3. | Glucose is not | A fructose B formetose C saccharose |
| 4. | Fats can not be | A accumulative B saturated C unsaturated |
| 5. | Waxes are | A byproduct of bees B esters of fatty acids C for water consumption |
| 6. | Cholesterol is | A steroid B carbohydrate C acid |
| 7. | Proteins and peptides are composed of | A 50% oxygen B 75 to 85% carbon C 15 to 25% nitrogen |
| 8. | Natural amino acid is not | A Alanine B Santiphan C Histide |
| 9. | Gene is a | A cell B DNA C polypeptide |
| 10. | Nucleic acids may be formulated as | A copolymers of phosphoric acid and nucleosides B genetic material C synthetic polymers |
Now you have checked your knowledge and you can asses what you have learned and what needs to be revised and checked again.
Conclusion
I believe you have understood what are natural products, where you can find them and why are they important to people and chemistry fields. I hope you will use this information next time you come across some products and you will know what are they made of and how.
Thank you for time and good luck in further studies!
-Viktorija Mjasnikova, 12A