Final answer:
Organic compounds essential to life such as carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids are composed of monomers that covalently bond by dehydration synthesis to form polymers. Carbohydrates are made from monosaccharides; proteins from amino acids; and nucleic acids from nucleotides. These polymers can be broken down through hydrolysis.
Step-by-step explanation:
The four main types of organic compounds that make up living things are carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. Each of these compounds is made up of smaller units known as monomers, which are single structures that can be covalently bonded to form larger structures, or polymers.
The monomer of carbohydrates is a simple sugar, monosaccharide; for proteins, it is an amino acid; and for nucleic acids, it's a nucleotide. Lipids are a bit different, as they are not made up of a repeating monomer but are still considered polymers and can include fats, oils, and steroids.
The bond between monomers is formed through a process called dehydration synthesis, where two monomers release a water molecule to form a covalent bond—a hydrogen atom is given up by one monomer and a hydroxyl group by the other. An example of the result of this process can be seen in the polymerization of ethylene, where the double bond opens up and joins to other monomers.
Conversely, these covalent bonds in polymers can be broken down into monomers through hydrolysis, where a molecule of water adds a hydrogen atom to one monomer and a hydroxyl group to the other, effectively splitting the polymer.