Organic Compounds Found in Living Matter

Earlier, it was believed that only living things could make organic compounds. But this belief was challenged, as the German chemist Wöhler synthesized urea, which is an organic molecule, from inorganic materials in 1828. Today we even could synthesize DNA, which is a genetic material, from inorganic materials, and hence create life.

         

Compounds which contain the element Carbon (C), except Carbon dioxide (CO₂) and Carbonates are called Organic Compounds. In Biology, we meet up with 4 major kinds of organic compounds in living things. They are; Carbohydrates, Lipids, Proteins and Nucleic Acids. Of these organic compounds, carbohydrates, proteins and nucleic acids are considered as Macromolecules due to their large molecular weights. Usually their molecular weights lie between 10­⁴ and 10¹⁰. Lipids are not of such large molecular weights, so they are not included in “Macromolecules” category. However, we will pay our attention to all these 4 major organic compounds, and discuss them one by one in detail through the oncoming series of posts.