CARBOHYDRATES

TYPES, PROPERTIES, REACTIONS AND MORE

BIOMOLECULES
- organic
compound made by
living things
 TYPES OF BIOCHEMICAL
COMPOUND
Carbohydrates are molecules made up of carbon, oxygen,
and hydrogen.. They usually have twice as much hydrogen as
oxygen. Examples of carbohydrates include sugars, starches
and cellulose.
Proteins are molecules made up of long chains of amino
acids. They're more complex than carbohydrates and contain
carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and sulfur. Examples of
proteins include hormones and enzymes.
Lipids are small, hydrophobic molecules built from fatty acids.
They're not soluble in water, but can be dissolved in organic
solvents. Like carbohydrates, they usually contain only carbon,
oxygen, and hydrogen. Examples of lipids include the fat stores
around your body, but also oils and waxes.
Nucleic acids are biological polymers made from nucleotides.
They're the most complex of the classes of biochemical
compounds and are built from many parts, including sugars,
which are themselves carbohydrates. They contain the same
elements as proteins, except tend to have phosphorus instead
of sulfur. But it's the way those elements are bonded together
that makes them nucleic acids. Examples of nucleic acids
include DNA and RNA.
Classification of carbohydrate
Based on the number of forming units, three major
classes of carbohydrates can be defined:
monosaccharides, oligosaccharides and
polysaccharides.
1. Monosaccharides or simply sugars are formed by
only one polyhydroxy aldehydeidic or ketonic unit. The
most abundant monosaccharide is D-glucose,
D also
called dextrose. Other examples are glucose, fructose
and galactose.
 Types of monosaccharides
1. Glucose- referred to as blood sugar; commercially
known as dextrose. It is the most important sugar that
serves as fuel for the cells in the brain, liver and many
more parts of the body.
2. Galactose- is the monosaccharide found in lactose, a
disaccharide usually called milk sugar
3. Fructose- sugar contained in ripe fruits; the sweetest
sugar. Also known as “corn sugar”
2. Oligosaccharides are formed by short chains of
monosaccharidic units (from 2 to 20) linked one to the
next by chemical bounds, called glycosidic bounds.
3. Disaccharides,, formed by two monosaccharides, and
especially in the human diet the most important are
sucrose (common table sugar), lactose and maltose.
Within cells many oligosaccharides formed by three or
more units do not find themselves as free molecules but
linked to other ones, lipids or proteins, to form
glycoconjugates.
 Types of Disaccharides
1. Sucrose- (glucose+fructose
glucose+fructose) – referred to as
table sugar.
2. Lactose- (glucose+fructose
glucose+fructose)- sugar contained
milk
3. Maltose- (glucose +glucose) found in common
root crops
 Classification of
carbohydrate
Polysaccharides are polymers consisting of
20 to 107 monosaccharidic units; they differ
each other for the monosaccharides
recurring in the structure, for the length and
the degree of branching of chains or for the
type of links between units.
Polysaccharides are defined:
homopolysaccharides if they contain only one
type of monosaccharide as starch,
glycogen and chitin;
heteropolysaccharides,, instead, contain two or
more different kinds (e.g. hyaluronic acid).

Note: the term “saccharide” derives from the

greek word “sakcharon”,
”, which means sugar.
Classification and Structures of
Monosaccharides
Monosaccharides are classified by the number of carbon atoms in a molecule.
 Importance of monosaccharides
Fuel for Metabolism
One major function of a monosaccharide is its use for energy within a
living organism. Glucose is a commonly known carbohydrate that is
metabolized within cells to create fuel. In the presence of oxygen, glucose
breaks down into carbon dioxide and water, and energy is released as a
byproduct. Glucose is a product of photosynthesis, and plants obtain
energy from glucose through respiration. Humans acquire glucose from
food, and the body transforms this monosaccharide into energy.
energy
Building Blocks
Monosaccharides are also the foundation for more
complex carbohydrates, or they serve as components to
amino acids. The ribose and deoxyribose monosaccharides
are vital elements of RNA and DNA, which are the building
blocks of life. While monosaccharides cannot be broken
down into smaller sugars, disaccharides and
polysaccharides are broken down into monosaccharides in
processes like digestion. For example, the disaccharide
lactose is degraded into monosaccharides, which can be
absorbed into the human body.
Importance of monosaccharides
Derivatives of Monosaccharides
Derivatives of monosaccharides are found in nature. One
example of a monosaccharide derivative is vitamin C, also called
ascorbic acid, which is derived from glucose. Sugar substitutes,
such as sorbitol and mannitol, are used as sweeteners, and they
form naturally in plants and berries from monosaccharides like
glucose and mannose. Amino sugars, such as glucosamine, a
derivative of glucose, produce cartilage, connective tissue and
chitin, a component of an insect’s exoskeleton.
Reactions
Glycoside Formation
Acetal derivatives formed when a monosaccharide reacts with an alcohol in the presence
of an acid catalyst are called glycosides.

Glycosides are formed when the anomeric

(hemiac-etal or hemiketal) hydroxyl
group of a monosaccharide undergoes
condensation with the hydroxyl group of a
second molecule, with the elimination of
water.
Reactions
Biological Ester Formation: Phosphorylation
1) keeps them water soluble, and 2) prevents them from diffusing across lipid bilayer
membranes. the phosphorylation of alcohol groups is a critical metabolic step. In alcohol
phosphorylations,, ATP is almost always the phosphate donor, and the mechanism is very
consistent: the alcohol oxygen acts as a nucleophile, attacking the gamma-phosphorus
gamma of ATP
and expelling ADP
Reactions
Redox Reaction
The oxidation of the aldehyde group, one of the most easily oxidized organic functional groups.
Aldehyde oxidation can be accomplished with any mild oxidizing agent, such as Tollens' reagent
or Benedict's reagent.
Chain Shortening and Lengthening
The chemical processes for decreasing or increasing the carbon chain length
of glucose. Glucose can be shortened by oxidation and decarboxylation to generate arabinose, a
reaction known as the Ruff degradation.
Reactions
Wohl Degradation
The ability to shorten (degrade) an aldose chain by one carbon was an important tool in the
structure elucidation of carbohydrates. The following equation illustrates the application of this
procedure to the aldopentose,, arabinose. Based on your knowledge of carbonyl chemistry, and
considering that the Wohl degradation is in essence the reverse of the Kiliani-Fischer synthesis.
 Disaccharides
A disaccharide, also called a double sugar “di”,
“ is a molecule formed
by two monosaccharides, or simple sugars. Three common
disaccharides are sucrose, maltose, and lactose. They have 12 carbon
atoms, and their chemical formula is C12H22O11. Other, less
common disaccharides include lactulose, trehalose, and cellobiose.
Disaccharides are formed through dehydration reactions in which a
total of one water molecule is removed from the two
monosaccharides.
 Disaccharides
IMPORTANCE:
found in many foods and are often added as sweeteners.
•found
When disaccharides like sucrose are digested, they are broken down
•When
into their simple sugars and used for energy.
Lactose is found in breast milk and provides nutrition for infants.
•Lactose
• Maltose is a sweetener that is often found in chocolates and other
candies.
 Plants store energy in the form of disaccharides like
•Plants
sucrose and it is also used for transporting nutrients in
the phloem.
•Trehalose is used for transport in some algae and fungi
Starch is the most common polysaccharide used for
•Starch
storage in plants, and it is broken down into maltose
Plants also use disaccharides to transport
•Plants
monosaccharides like glucose, fructose, and galactose
between cells.
Disaccharides
Common kinds of Disaccharide
Other less common disaccharides include:
Lactulose
Trehalose,
Chitobiose
Cellobiose.

Disaccharides are formed through

dehydration reactions in which a total of
one water molecule is removed from the
two monosaccharides.
Polysaccharides
A carbohydrate (e.g. starch, cellulose, or
glycogen) whose molecules consist of a
number of sugar molecules bonded together.
Depending on their structure, polysaccharides
can have a wide variety of functions in nature.
Some polysaccharides are used for storing
energy, some for sending cellular messages,
and others for providing support to cells and
tissues.
 Kinds of Polysaccharides
Storage polysaccharides-such
polysaccharides as starch,
glycogen and inulin
Structural polysaccharides-
polysaccharides such as
arabinoxylans, cellulose, chitin and
pectins
Acidic polysaccharides-polysaccharides
polysaccharides that contain
carboxyl groups, phosphate groups and/or sulfuric
ester groups.
Bacterial capsular polysaccharides-Pathogenic
polysaccharides
bacteria commonly produce a thick, mucous-like,
mucous
layer of polysaccharide. This "capsule" cloaks
antigenic proteins on the bacterial surface that
would otherwise provoke an immune response and
thereby lead to the destruction of the bacteria.