Organic & Inorganic Molecules

Of course, many people focus on the organic molecules when people focus on life. There are four major types of organic molecules. Those are the carbohydrates, the proteins, the lipids and the nucleic acids. Carbohydrates are energy-rich, are part of cell respiration, they have a structure role in the cellulose/cell walls of plants and they serve as building blocks in the form of carbohydrate polysaccharides (which are themselves composed of simple sugars. Proteins are the enzymes, are also structural, are carrier molecules and so forth. Examples would be hemoglobin, protein channels and they are parts of cell membranes. The lipids are the fatty acids and glycerol. They are also part of the cell membrane structure. They can also be omega-3 fatty acids. They serve as building blocks in the form of fatty acids and glycerol. Finally, there are the nucleic acids. These include DNA and RNA, they contain genetic information, they are part of the cell reproduction process, are part of protein production and their building blocks are nucleotides.

However, the inorganic molecules, while not "organic," are just as important. These include water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen and minerals. Water is the site of chemical reactions. Oxygen, like carbohydrates, is involved in cellular respiration. Carbon dioxide is involved with photosynthesis in plants. Nitrogen is involved with protein and nucleic acids. Finally, minerals are involved in enzyme ultra-structure. Of course, even if the latter four described in this post are inorganic, they are very important. We need both water and oxygen to survive as humans, carbon dioxide is necessary for plants and much of our atmosphere is made of up nitrogen. Minerals are used by the human body and for other purposes as well.

A chart of all of the molecules listed above, including which class each of htem is in, is listed below:

http://iqa.evergreenps.org/science/biology/molecules_life.htm