The main essential molecules are phosphates, organic, fatty, and amino acids, sugars and purines and pyrimidines!
We'll start with the phosphate ion: PO4^3-
How it normally exists in the cell: Phosphoric acid, H3PO4
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| Phosphoric acid |
Why it is important:
Unlike other inorganic ions it combines very readily with other organic compounds because it has strong electronegativity, and so forms salts, e.g. potassium phosphate K3PO4, and esters, (mono-, di-, or triphosphate esters).
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| Triphosphate ester (where R is any organic alcohol) |
The phosphate ester is especially useful as it can convert a previously pretty much inert organic compound into a much more reactive one, with di- and triphosphate esters making them even more reactive than monophosphate ones. This is vital in particular for adenine triphosphate, or ATP, which I will go into later.
Source: The Chemistry of Life by Steven Rose
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