Polymerize and Depolymerize

[mcdull1016]

Polymerize and Depolymerize

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Post by mcdull1016 » Tue Aug 02, 2005 4:35 am

what does it mean to be polymerized? and what does it mean to be depolymerized?

[Jokkon]

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Post by Jokkon » Tue Aug 02, 2005 5:21 am

no idea =D ahha
does it have anything to do with polymers? monomers joined toggether by dehydration synthesis resulting in polymers, or polymers break down into monomers by hydrolysis?

[sdekivit]

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Post by sdekivit » Tue Aug 02, 2005 8:04 am

For my example i take proteins. You;ll probably know that proteins are polymers of aminoacids. For example consider the oligopeptide Arg-Lys-Cys-Pro-Met

then the chain Arg-Lys-Cys-Pro-Met is a polymerized structure. When it is hydrolized, we depolimerize the oligopeptide to:

Arg + Lys + Cys + Pro + Met for example.

These loose components are aminoacids and the protein has depolimerized.