Question

ATP stands for which of the following?

• A. Adenosine phosphate
• B. Adenine triphosphate
• C. Adenosine diphosphate
• D. Adenosine triphosphate

Answer 1

The correct option is D Adenosine triphosphate

Chemically ATP is a nucleotide. In fact it is a higher order nucleotide because it contains not one but three phosphates. Compounds made up of (pentose) sugar and a nitrogenous base are called nucleosides. If the base is adenine, the nucleoside will be called adenosine.

If one phosphate is attached to adenosine through an ester bond then the compound becomes a nucleotide and in this case it is called adenylic acid or adenosine monophosphate.

When second phosphorous is attached to the first phosphorous, through an acid anhydride bond, the nucleotide is called adenosine diphosphate. When third phosphorous is attached to the second phosphate through another acid anhydride bond, the nucleotide is called adenosine triphosphate or ATP.