The key difference between bisphosphate and biphosphate is that bisphosphate is a diphosphate having two phosphate groups attached to a sugar residue, whereas biphosphate is a salt of phosphoric acid having only one of the hydrogen atoms replaced by a metal ion.
Bisphosphate and biphosphate refer to two types of inorganic compounds having phosphate groups. These two terms sound similar to each other but have different meanings. Bisphosphate is a diphosphate with two phosphate groups attached to a sugar residue. Biphosphate is a salt of phosphoric acid with only one of the hydrogen atoms replaced by a metal ion.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Bisphosphate
3. What is Biphosphate
4. Bisphosphate vs Biphosphate in Tabular Form
5. Summary – Bisphosphate vs Biphosphate
What is Bisphosphate?
Bisphosphate is a diphosphate having two phosphate groups attached to a sugar residue. In other words, the two phosphate moieties are not attached to each other, but rather they are bonded at different places in the compound. There are many different references for this term, such as fructose bisphosphate and its derivatives, glucose bisphosphate and its derivatives, phosphatidyl bisphosphate and its derivatives, ribulose bisphosphate and derivatives, etc.
Figure 1: The Chemical Structure of Beta-D-fructose-1,6-bisphosphate
According to current nomenclature, bisphosphate has two phosphate groups attached to two different atoms, and if there were three phosphate groups, we call it trisphosphate, where the term “tris’ indicates three. These days, the term biphosphate is considered out-of-date or incorrect, but it is still in use in some contexts.
What is Biphosphate?
Biphosphate is a salt of phosphoric acid with only one of the hydrogen atoms replaced by a metal ion. In other words, it has two phosphate moieties that are attached to each other, as in ADP. There, the two phosphate groups are attached sequentially. If there were three phosphate groups attached, then we call it triphosphate, where the term “tri” refers to three.
Figure 02: The Chemical Structure of Calcium Biphosphate
However, the term biphosphate is considered to be out-of-date or incorrect though it is still used in some contexts. For example, monocalcium phosphate can also be named calcium bis(dihydrogen phosphate), which was used to be called calcium biphosphate. Sometimes, pyrophosphate is also known as biphosphate.
There are different types of biphosphates, such as calcium biphosphate, potassium biphosphate, magnesium biphosphate, sodium biphosphate, etc.
What is the Difference Between Bisphosphate and Biphosphate?
Bisphosphate and biphosphate are two inorganic terms that refer to chemical compounds consisting of two phosphate functional groups per chemical compound. The two types of chemical compounds differ from each other according to the way that these phosphate groups are attached to the carbon atoms of the compound. The key difference between bisphosphate and biphosphate is that bisphosphate is a diphosphate having two phosphate groups attached to a sugar residue, whereas biphosphate is any salt of phosphoric acid with only one of the hydrogen atoms having been replaced by a metal ion. However, the term biphosphate is now considered out-of-date or incorrect, but it is still in use in some contexts. But, the term bisphosphate is still extensively used.
The following table summarizes the difference between bisphosphate and diphosphate.
Summary – Bisphosphate vs Biphosphate
The key difference between bisphosphate and biphosphate is that bisphosphate is a diphosphate having two phosphate groups attached to a sugar residue, whereas biphosphate is a salt of phosphoric acid having only one of the hydrogen atoms replaced by a metal ion. These days, the term biphosphate is considered out-of-date or incorrect, but it is still in use in some contexts.
Reference:
1. “Bisphosphonates.” Versus Arthritis.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Beta-D-Fructose-1,6-bisphosphat2” By NEUROtiker – Own work (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Calcium dihydrogen phosphate” By Edgar181 – Own work (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia