Biochemistry Practice Exam Questions and Answers

1. In a hospital laboratory, a 10.0mL sample of gastric juice, obtained several hours after a
meal, was titrated with 0.1M NaOH to neutrality; 7.2mL of NaOH was required. The
patient’s stomach contained no ingested food or drink, thus assume that no buffers were
present. What was the pH of the gastric juice?

pH 1.1

2. The amino acid glycine is often used as the main ingredient of a buffer in biochemical
experiments. The amino group of glycine, which has a pKa of 9.6, can exist either in the
protonated form(-NH3+) or as the free base(-NH2) because of the reversible equilibrium

R-NH3+ R-NH2 + H+
a) In what pH range can glycine be used as an effective buffer due to its amino groups?

In a zone centered about pH 9.6

b) In a 0.1 m solution of glycine at pH 9.0. what fraction of glycine has its amino group in the –
NH3+ form?

4/5

c) How much 5 m KOH must be added to 1.0 L of 0.1 M glycine at pH 9.0 to bring its pH to
exactly 10.0?

10-2 L

d) In order to have 99% of the glycine in its –NH3+ form, what must the numerical relation be
between the pH of the solution and the pKa of the amino group of glycine?

pH - pKa = -2

3. Why does ice melt when salt is sprinkled on it?

A pure liquid such as water freezes completely at a constant temperature which is known as a
freezing point for that liquid. But the addition of any soluble impurity lowers the freezing point of
the mixture so formed. When salt is sprinkled on ice, a part of it dissolves in the water film that
always covers a ice surface. As the freezing point of the solution so formed is much lower than
the freezing point of water, it remains in a liquid state and continues dissolving more salt and
melting more ice. This phenomenon is used to clear snow from roads and side-walks in cold
countries during winter.
4. When a piece of paper is wet with water, it tears off easily. But the same paper if soaked in
oil doesn’t lose strength. Why?

Paper is made up of thin sheet of cellulosic fibers and other ingredients mixed together. It is sized
to make it suitable for writing. The cellulosic fibers are held together by weak forces called the
van der Waal’s forces. When paper is dipped in water, the sizing material used for refining the
paper being water-soluble becomes soft. Water being a polar solvent, weakens the van der Waal’s
forces that hold the fibers together. As a result, the fibers come off easily when pulled and so a
wet paper tears off easily. On the other hand, oil being a nonpolar solvent does not affect the
water-soluble sizing material. Nor does it weaken the forces holding the cellulosic fibers together.
So paper soaked in oil does not tear off as easily as paper as paper soaked in water does.

5. When glucose is added and stirred, the water feels cooler. Why?

Whenever a solute is dissolved in water, some energy change takes place. In most cases, the
amount of this change is very small and is hardly noticeable. But in some cases, it is quite large
and leads to large changes in temperature - a rise or fall depending upon whether the heat of
solution is positive or negative. Glucose has a negative heat of solution, i.e., heat is absorbed
when glucose is dissolved in water. As a result, the temperature drops and the solution feels cool.

6. Metabolic alkalosis is a condition in which the blood pH is higher than its normal value of
7.40 and can be caused, among other reasons, by an increase in [HCO 3-]. If a patient has a
following blood values, pH= 7.45, [CO2]=1.25 mM, What is the [HCO3-]? The pk1 for the
bicarbonate/carbonic acid system is 6.1. How does the calculated Value of bicarbonate
compare with the normal value?

Henderson-Hasselbalch equation:
pH = pKa + log10 ([A–]/[HA])

7.45 = 6.1 + log(x/1.25)

1.35 = log(x/1.25)

The antilog of 1.35 is 22.39. Therefore

[HCO3-] = 22.39 X 1.25 = 27.98 mM

Normal [HCO3-] = 24.0 mM so there is an increase of 3.98 mmol(per liter) of HCO3- .

7. A polysaccharide of unknown structure was isolated, subjected to exhaustive methylation,

and hydrolyzed. Analysis of the products revealed three methylated sugars:
2,3,4-tri-O-methyl-D-Glucose, 2,4-di-O-methyl-D-glucose and 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-methyl-D-
glucose, in the ratio 20:1:1. What is the structure of the polysaccharide?
 Chains of (1-6)-linked D-glucose residues with occasional (1-3)-linked branches, with about
one branch for every 20 residues in the polymer.

8. The shape of hair is determined in part by the pattern of disulfide bonds in keratin, its
major protein. How can curls be induced?

Disulfide bonds in hair are broken by adding a thiol and applying gentle heat. The hair is curled,
and an oxidizing agent is added to re-form disulfide bonds to stabilize the desired shape.

9. How do depilatory creams remove hair?

Methods of removal of hairs are classified as depilatory(removal of hairs from the surface of the
skin) or epilatory (removal of intact hair with the root).Depilatory creams are substituted
mercaptians, such as thioglycollic acid, which reduce the disulfide bond in the peptide chains of
keratin, a hair protein. As a result, the hair fiber swells and softens and can be washed from the
skin.

10. Using known endo- and exopeotidase, suggest a pathway for the complete degradation of
the following peptide:
His-Ser-Lys-Ala-Trp-Ile-Asp-Cys-Pro-Arg-His-His-Ala

Trypsin cleavage gives (a)His-Ser-Lys + (b) Ala-Trp-Ile-Met-Cys-Gly-Pro-Arg + (c) His-His-

Ala. Further degradation of (a) is accomplished by elastase and dipeptideasse. Further
degradation of (b) would start with chymotrypsin and also use dipeptidases, tripiptidase, and
carboxypeptidase B. To degrade (c), carboxypeptidase A and dipeptidase would be enough. The
point is that several peptidases with varying specificities are required.

11. After proper purification, the Edman reaction was used to sequence a dodecapeptide. The
following data were obtained. The C-terminal amino acid is isoleucine; N-terminal amino
acid is methionine; peptide fragments are Ala-Ala-Ile, Leu-Arg-Lys-Lys-Glu-Lys-Glu-Ala,
Met-Gly-Leu, and Met-Phe-Pro-Met. What is the sequence of this peptide?

You must have the correct N- and C- terminal amino acids and the correct total number(12) of
amino acids in the peptide. Keeping these criteria in mind and overlapping the fragments, will get
the sequence as Met-Phe-Pro-Met-Gly-Leu-Arg-Lys-Glu-Ala-Ala-Ile. Note that the Lys-Glu
fragment doesn’t give any additional information for the sequencing.

12. Why is pepsin useful as a digestive aid in precooked foods?

Pepsin partially digests (hydrolyzes) the protein in foods.

13. Why are the most unsaturated fatty acids found in phospholipids in the cis rather than the
trans confirmation? Draw the structure of a 16-carbon fatty acid as saturated, trans
monosaturated, and cis monounsaturated.
 The presence of a cis double bond introduces a kink that prevents packing of a fatty acid chains.
Cis double bonds maintain fluidity. Trans fatty acid have no structural effect, relative to
saturated fatty acids, and so they are rare.

(a). Saturated

(b). Trans- monounsaturated

(c). Cis- monounsaturated

14. The melting points of a series of 18-carbon fatty acids are stearic acid, 69.60C, oleic acid,
13.40C; linoleic acid -50C; and linolenic acid, -110C. What structural aspect of these 18-
carbon fatty acids can be correlated with the melting point? Provide a molecular
explanation for the trend in melting points.

The number of cis double bonds. Each Cis double bond causes a bend in the hydrocarbon chain;
it is more difficult to pack these bent chains in the crystal lattice.
15. Why do phenyls and Dettol turn water milky-white when mixed with it?

Any substance which is soluble in water will completely dissolve in it and form a clear and
transparent solution. But oil-based substances are immiscible with water and so they form a fine
emulsion. Since Dettol and phenyls contain substances that are immiscible with water, they do
not mix when added to the water. However they also contain some chemicals which act as
surfactants or detergents that help in breaking up of the oil layer into small droplets. This makes
Dettol or phenyl to form a fine emulsion when added to water and make it appear cloudy. Since
the emulsion is formed of fine droplets of the immiscible liquid and the amount of Dettol or
phenyl added is also quite small, the emulsion stays and does not separate out in a different oily
layer on standing.

16. Why does a wound on tongue heal faster than those on the other parts of the body?

Cuts on the tongue heal fast because the tongue is highly vascularized that is, has plenty of blood
vessels. The rich supply of blood means that white blood corpuscles can easily reach the site of
the wound and carry out defense functions preventing infection by bacteria. The secondary
infection can prolong healing. The saliva too helps in this as it bathes the tongue in a chemical
called lysosome that has mildly antiseptic properties. Besides, the epithelial cells of the tongue
divide very rapidly and so the wounds in the mouth and on the tongue heal faster.