BIOCHEMISTRY

BSN CARBOHYDRATES
COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND
SCIENCES EDUCATION

CARBOHYDRATES - STRUCTURE CLASSIFICATION BASED ON

AND FUNCTION PRODUCTS OF ACID HYDROLYSIS:
CARBOHYDRATES MONOSACCHARIDES
the most abundant class of bioorganic the simple sugars.
molecules on earth. contain a single polyhydroxy aldehyde or
produced by the photosynthetic activity of the polyhydroxy ketone unit.
green plants. cannot be degraded into simpler products by
also referred to as saccharides because of hydrolysisreactions.
the sweet taste of many carbohydrates pure monosaccharides are water- soluble,
(latin, saccharum, meaning sugar) white, crystalline solids.
storehouse of chemical energy (glucose, DISACCHARIDES
starch,glycogen) contains 2 monosaccharide units covalently
a gram of digested carbohydrate gives bonded to each other.
about 4 kcal ofenergy. –crystalline and water soluble substances
complex carbohydrates are best for diet. upon hydrolysis they produce
supportive structural components in plants monosaccharides.
and some animals (cellulose, chitin).
CARBONYL GROUP
form part of the structural framework of DNA carbonyl group is a chemically organic
& RNA. functional group composed of a carbon atom
carbohydrate “markers” on cell surfaces play double-bonded to an oxygen atom --> [C=O]
key roles in cell-cell recognition processes. the simplest carbonyl groups are
CLASSIFICATION OF CARBOHY- aldehydes and ketones usually attached to
DRATES another carbon compound.
simpler formula:
OLIGOSACCHARIDES
CnH2nOn or Cn(H2O)n (hydrates of C)
n = number of atmos contains 3-10 monosaccharide units -
polyhydroxy aldehydes or polyhydroxy covalently bonded.
ketones or compounds that producesuch disaccharides are the most common type.
substances uponhydrolysis. trisaccharides (raffinose)
tetrasaccharides (stachyose)
free oligosaccharides, other than
disaccharides, are less common in nature.
usually found associated with proteins and
lipids in complex molecules that serve
structural and regulatory functions.
POLYSACCHARIDES
consist of tens of thousands of
monosaccharide units covalently bonded.
homopolysacchrides – polymers of a single
monosaccharide (glycogen, cellulose,starch)

9.