The carbon atom has unique properties that allow it to form covalent bonds to as many as four different atoms, making this versatile element ideal to serve as the basic structural component, or “backbone,” of the macromolecules.
All living things contain carbon in some form. Carbon is the primary component of macromolecules, including proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and carbohydrates. Carbon's molecular structure allows it to bond in many different ways and with many different elements.
When one phosphate group is removed by breaking a phosphoanhydride bond in a process called hydrolysis, energy is released, and ATP is converted to adenosine diphosphate (ADP).
