Which ones are purines and pyrimidines

The paired nitrogen bases are held together by hydrogen bonds , which are shown in the illustration below. What is the difference between a purine and a pyrimidine? Chemistry Organic Chemistry Biochemical Molecules.

Nov 24, Purines have two carbon-nitrogen rings and pyrimidines have one carbon-hydrogen ring. Explanation: Both are nitrogenous bases.

Adenine and guanine are purines, while thymine, cytosine, and uracil are pyrimidines. The two-carbon nitrogen ring bases adenine and guanine are purines, while the one-carbon nitrogen ring bases thymine and cytosine are pyrimidines.

A purine is a heterocyclic aromatic organic compound containing 4 nitrogen atoms. It contains two carbon rings, and is made of a pyrimidine ring fused to an imidazole ring. A pyrimidine is a heterocyclic aromatic organic compound containing 2 nitrogen atoms. It contains only one carbon ring. Both purines and pyrimidines have the same function: they serve as a form of energy for cells, and are essential for production of DNA and RNA, proteins, starch, regulations of enzymes, cell signaling.

Useful mnemonics to remember these bases are:. Pyrimidines can be prepared in a lab using organic synthesis, such as through the Bigineli reaction. Pyrimidine is heterocyclic in nature with the aromatic compound only consisting of one carbon ring and two nitrogen atoms.

This inherent structure of the bases leads to purine and pyrimidine difference. Do You Know? The identification of pyrimidine compounds took a long time. Even though its isolation took place somewhere within and , the recognition of its structures did not come through till Function of Purine and Pyrimidine Bases.

Purine Catabolism. Owing to the end-product of purine catabolism being uric acid, it has a significant role to play in our body. The urate oxidase enzyme is not present in the human body, and from uric acid, urate is created. Formation of uric acid takes place in the liver and subsequently discharged with urine through the kidney.

In the human body, monosodium salt and un-dissociated uric acid are least soluble. Such nature usually does not cause any problem in the human body unless urine has very high acidic content.

Concentration of urate eventually causes the development of gout. Pyrimidine Catabolism. Pyrimidine catabolism leads to the end-product of carbon dioxide, ammonia and beta-amino acids. The beta-amino acid is mostly excreted, otherwise it is incorporated into muscle dipeptides. The difference between purine and pyrimidine are the following -.