Carbohydrates :: essays research papers

There ar three principal kinds of carbohydrates and each are classified according to the number of sugar molecules they nab. Monosaccharides, such as ribose, glucose, and fructose, contain only star sugar molecule. Disaccharides consist of two sugar molecules connect covalently. Familiar examples are sucrose (table sugar), maltose (malt sugar), and lactose (milk sugar). Polysaccharides, such as cellulose and starch, contain many sugar molecules linked together.Monosaccharides are organic compounds unruffled of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. They can be described by the chemical formula (CH2O)n, where n may be as small as 3 or as large as 8. They are characterized by hydroxyl groups and an aldehyde or ketone group. These functional groups make sugars highly soluble in aqueous solution. In solution the aldehyde or ketone group has a tendency to react with one of the hydroxyl groups, producing a ring structure. The alpha glucose, which is the base of many polymers, is an naught s ource in organisms.Although glucose is the common transport sugar for vertebrates, sugars are oftentimes transported in other organisms as disaccharides. saccharose, commonly called cane sugar, is the form in which sugar is transported in plants from the photosynthetic cells to other parts of the plant body. Sucrose is composed of the monosaccharides glucose and fructose. In the synthesis of a disaccharide molecule from two monosaccharides, a molecule of water is removed in the process of forming the new mystify between the two monosaccharides. This type of chemical reaction, which occurs in the synthesis of just about organic polymers from their subunits, is known as condensation. When a disaccharide is split into its monosaccharide units, which happens when it is use as an energy source, the molecule of water is added again. This process is called hydrolysis.Polysaccharides are make up of monosaccharides linked together in long chains. Some of them are storage forms of sugar.