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Condensation and Hydrolysis

A condensation reaction is a reaction that joins two molecules together with a covalent bond formed by removing a small molecule such as a water molecule.Condensation polymers are polymers formed by linking monomers with condensation reactions.Examples are polypeptides and polysaccharides.Hydrolysis is the process by which a covalent bond is broken by the addition of a water molecule.

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Specification: AQA Biology (7401), AS-level, 3.1.1 Monomers and polymers. Topic: Biological Molecules.

Key terms in this lesson

covalent bond
A strong chemical bond formed when a pair of electrons is shared between two atoms.
polymer
A large molecule made of many repeating monomer units joined together by covalent bonds.
monomer
A small molecule that is a repeating subunit from which larger molecules such as polymers are made.
polysaccharide
A polymer formed from many monosaccharides joined together by glycosidic bonds.

More in Biological Molecules

All 29 lessons in Biological Molecules · All AQA AS-level Biology topics