TUTORIAL 1

BIOCHEMICAL ENGINEERING
Chapter 1
Carbohydrates
1. Define carbohydrates.
2. Identify each sugar as an aldose or a ketose and then a triose, tetrose, pentose or hexose.

D-glucose

L-ribulose

D-glyceraldehyde

3. Describe the similarities of D-glucose and D-galactose.

4. Describe the similarities and differences in the structures of D-glucose and D-fructose.
5. Draw the Fisher projections for D-glucose and D-ribose. Identify all the functional groups in
each structure.
6. Define each term:
a. Mutarotation
b. Anomer
c. Anomeric carbon
d. Reducing sugar
7. Draw the Harworth projection for -D-glucose. Identify the anomeric carbon.
8. Given that the aldohexose D-mannose differs from D-glucose only in the configuration at the
second carbon atom, draw the Harwoth projection for -mannose.
9. Draw the Harwoth structure for the aldopentose D-xylose.

BioChemical Engineering Sept 2016

10. Draw the Haworth structure for the ketohexose D-sorbose.

11. For this trisaccharide, indicate whether each glicosidic linkage is or .

12. What monosaccharides are obtained by the hydrolysis of each dissacharide?

a. Sucrose
b. Maltose
c. Lactose
13. Melibiose is a dissacharide that occurs in some plant juices. Analyse the structure of Melibiose
by aswering questions as below:

a. What monosaccharide units are incorporated into melibiose?

b. What type of linkage ( or ) joins the two monosaccharide units of melibiose?
c. Melibiose has a free anomeric carbon and is thus a reducing sugar. Cirsle the anomeric
carbon and indicate whether the OH group is or .
14. Describe the similarities and differences between amylose and cellulose.

BioChemical Engineering Sept 2016

Amino Acids and Protein

1. Give five classification of proteins by biological function.
2. Define amino acid.
3. List 20 types of amino acids.
4. Explain how an amino acid can act as both an acid and a base.
5. Distinguish between the N-terminal amino acid and the C-terminal amino acid of a peptide or
protein.
6. Describe the difference between an amino acid and a peptide.

Buffer
1. Calculate the pH of a buffer solution made from 0.20 M HC2H3O2 and 0.50 M C2H3O2- that has
an acid dissociation constant for HC2H3O2 of 1.8 x 10-5.
2. A buffer is made from acetic acid (HC2H3O2) and sodium acetate (NaC2H3O2). 1.5 moles of acetic
acid and 2.5 moles of sodium acetate are added to enough water to make 1.5 liter of solution.
The ionization constant (Ka) for acetic acid is 1.8 x 105

a) Write the equation for the ionization of acetic acid in water, and using a stressshiftequilibrium arrow diagram, show how the buffer would minimize the effect of adding
a base to the solution.
b) Using the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation, find the pH of this buffer solution.
c) Calculate the percent ionization of the acetic acid in this solution.
d) At what pH would this solution have the largest buffering capacity in both directions?
3. What is the pH of a buffer solution consisting of 0.0350 M NH3 and 0.0500 M NH4+ (Ka for
NH4+ is 5.6 x 10-10)? The equation for the reaction is:

NH4+ H+ + NH3
4. A) Calculate the pH of an ascorbate buffer solution where the concentration of the ascorbic
acid (HC6H7O6) is 0.14 M and the concentration of the sodium ascorbate (NaC6H7O6) is 0.34
M. Ka(HC6H7O6) = 8.0 x 10-5

B) A 0.7 mL drop of concentrated of HNO3 (15.7 M) is accidentally added to 550 mL of the

ascorbate buffer. Recalculate the pH of the solution

BioChemical Engineering Sept 2016