Each bond is named for what it joins
- The idea
- Predict
- See it
- Why
- Check
The idea
“A bond name from one macromolecule, like peptide bond, works for the others too.”
These bonds all form the same way, so the names blur. And it's easy to give an enzyme the bond of the molecule it digests.
The short version
The mistake: A bond name from one macromolecule, like peptide bond, works for the others too.
What's actually true: Peptide bonds join amino acids. Glycosidic linkages join sugars. Ester linkages join fatty acids to glycerol.
- These bonds all form by dehydration synthesis, giving off water. Each is named for the building blocks it joins.
- Nucleic acids have their own, the phosphodiester bond. A phosphate links the sugar of one nucleotide to the sugar of the next.
On the exam: Amino acids join by peptide bonds, sugars by glycosidic linkages, fatty acids to glycerol by ester linkages.