BMB 208 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Decarboxylation, Conjugate Acid, Carboxylate

• School: University of Maine
• Department: Micro and Molecular Biology
• Course: BMB 208
• Professor: Cashon

Document Summary

Reactions of organic acids: carboxylic acids ionize when they dissolve in water, we use double arrows because they are weak acids. Carboxylic acids react with bases: whenever a carboxylic acid reacts with a base, one of the products is the conjugate base of the original acid, which is a carboxylate ion. The conjugate base is generally more water soluble than the carboxylic acid. Decarboxylation reactions: carboxylic acids can lose carbon dioxide in a decarboxylation reaction. This reaction requires a carbonyl group on the alpha carbon. The other reactants are nad+ and a thiol with a thioester product. Comparison of the two types of decarboxylation reactions: our bodies burn nutrients to obtain energy giving nal products of co2 (from these reactions) and h2o.