Question

Look at the following chemical reaction.
(Picture below)

Which could describe the chemical reaction that is shown?

A. Hydrolysis of protein
B. Hydrolysis of fatty acids
C. Dehydration of carbon dioxide
D. Dehydration of amino acids

Answer 1

Hmm... a reaction between two molecules that consist of a carboxylic acid group joined to a C with an R group joined to an amine group... what COULD that be?

Answer 2

Dehydration of carbon dioxide?

Answer 3

Do you see any carbon dioxide (CO2) in that equation? Would it even be possible to dehydrate it (i.e. remove H2O from it)?

Answer 4

So A? Sorry, I'm not good at Bio.

Answer 5

Is water (H2O) going in or coming out? If it goes in, that's hydrolysis. If it comes out, that's dehydration. Makes sense, right? If you're dehydrated, that means you're really thirsty because too much water has gone out of your body (e.g. through sweating).

Answer 6

D. Dehydration of amino acids. Am I right?

Answer 7

Yep, that would make sense. Incidentally, the bond formed there is called a peptide bond. Proteins are chains of amino acids that have been joined together by peptide bonds. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peptide_bond

Answer 8

Thank you so much!

Answer 9

No problem!