OCCURENCE, STRUCTURE AND BIOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS OF DISACCHARIDE

 The disaccharides are sugars containing two molecules of monosaccharides

 A disaccharide consists of two monosaccharide units held together by a glycosidic bond.
 Disaccharides are formed by condensation or dehydration reaction
 They are crystalline
 Soluble in water
 Sweet in taste
 Disaccharides play important functions in the human diet.

The disaccharides are of two types

 Reducing disaccharides with free aldehyde or keto group e.g. maltose, lactose.
 Non-reducing disaccharides with no free aldehyde or keto group e.g. sucrose,
trehalose.
 The physiologically important disaccharides are:
 Maltose (malt sugar) = Glucose + Glucose
 Lactose (milk sugar) = Galactose + Glucose
 Sucrose (cane sugar) = Glucose + Fructose

MALTOSE

 Maltose is composed of two α-D-glucose units held together by α (1 4) glycosidic

bond.
 The free aldehyde group present on C1 of second glucose answers the reducing reactions,
as well the osazone formations (sunflower-shaped).
 Maltose can be hydrolysed by dilute acid or the enzyme maltase to liberate two molecules
of α-D-glucose.
 It is also called as malt sugar

Occurrence
 It occurs in germinating seeds
 It is the key ingredient in malted barley
 It is the product of starch hydrolysis

Structure

1
Biological Importance (or) Functions
1. Maltose is used as an ingredient in chewing gum, cookies, candies, bakery goods.
2. Most useful in manufacturing of food products for diabetic patients
3. Baby food are prepared by hydrolysis of grains which contain largest amount of maltose
4. Maltose is easily digestible and useful to sick persons
5. Maltose is an importance intermediate in digestion of starch.

LACTOSE
 Lactose is more commonly known as milk sugar since it is the disaccharide found in
milk.
 Lactose is composed of β-D-galactose and β-Dglucose held together by β (1 4)
glycosidic bond.
 The anomeric carbon of C1 glucose is free; hence lactose exhibits reducing properties
and forms osazones (powder-puff shape).
 It is hydrolysed by the intestinal enzyme lactase to glucose and galactose
Occurrence
 Lactose is solely animal origin and it is found in milk of mammals.
 Human milk has 6% of lactose and cow milk has 4.5%.

Structure

Biological Importance (or) Functions

1) Lactose, also called milk sugar, is the nutritional source of energy for infants during
nursing.
2) Lactose of milk is the most important carbohydrate in the nutrition of young mammals.
3) Lactose makes milk tastes sweet and is an ingredient in many processed foods that
contain dairy.
4) Lactose added food products are cakes, cookies, breads, doughnuts, ice cream and
breakfast bars.

2
SUCROSE
 Sucrose is made up of α-D-glucose and β-D-fructose.
 The two monosaccharides are held together by a glycosidic bond (α 1 β2), between C1
of α-glucose and C2 of β-fructose. The reducing groups of glucose and fructose are
involved in glycosidic bond, hence sucrose is a non-reducing sugar, and it cannot form
osazones.
 Sucrose is an important source of dietary carbohydrate
 The intestinal enzyme sucrose hydrolyses sucrose to glucose and fructose which are
absorbed

Occurence
 Sucrose is the common cane sugar or table sugar
 Sucrose is widely distributed in all photosynthetic plants such as sugarcane, beet,
maple, pineapple, carrot and nectars of flowers

Structure

Biological Importance (or) Functions

 The function of sucrose is to sweeten foods for more taste appeal.
 It is sweeter than most other common sugars (except fructose) namely glucose, lactose
and maltose
 Most of the food industry use sucrose as sweetening agent.
 Manufacturers add sucrose as a sweetener to candies, ice cream, cookies, cakes, breads,
sauces, ketchup and canned goods.
 Sucrose is also used in pharmacological products like tablets and corn syrup.

Inversion of sucrose

 Sucrose, as such is dextrorotatory (+66.5°). But, when hydrolysed, sucrose

becomes levorotatory (–28.2°). The process of change in optical rotation from
dextrorotatory (+) to levorotatory (–) is referred to as inversion. The hydrolysed
mixture of sucrose, containing glucose and fructose, is known as invert sugar.