Practice Exam Question

[Esther]

Hi all, im doing first year biochemistry in an undergraduate degree. I have an exam coming up this week and am doing all my essay practice questions, i just cannot figure out what this question is asking me to do ? I can explain what each of a, b and c are, but i don't understand and cannot find out how they determine the activity of biomolecules?

 

QUESTION

Give an example to illustrate the significance of a. enantiomers b. conformers and c. geometric isomers in determining the activity of biomolecules.

 

 

 

 

Does anyone have any suggestions on what i can research or can point me in the right direction for me to answer this question?

 

thanks

[Xittenn]

Organic Chemistry L.G.Wade Jr. gives good detailed information on how Stereochemistry affects [math] S_N 1 [/math], [math] S_N 2 [/math], [math] E1 [/math] and [math] E2 [/math] reactions and covers chiral compounds without asymmetric atoms!

Edited November 10, 2010 by Xittenn

[Horza2002]

a. Remember that enantiomers are inseperable in achiral enviroments but are different in chiral enviroment (like the body)

 

b. Conformers are how the molecule folds up in 3D space...how might the shape of a molecule be important in the body (think proteins)

 

c. This also referes to the shape of molecules...but since they have different configurations, it is far more important than b

[mississippichem]

Many enzymes are enatio-specific meaning they only catalyze reactions on substrates that have the right stereochemistry.

 

For example: almost all natural amino-acids are in the L-configuration. So often times, enzymatic proteins made from L-amino acids will not catalyze reactions on D-amino acid substrates.

 

That might be a good example of the effects of stereochemistry on biomolecules.

Edited November 13, 2010 by mississippichem