Carbohydrate questions (AQA)

1. (a) Starch is an important storage substance in plants. Give two features of starch molecules
and explain how each enables starch to act as an efficient storage substance.

1 Feature..............................................................................................................

Explanation.......................................................................................................

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2 Feature..............................................................................................................

Explanation.......................................................................................................

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(2)

Glucose syrup is used in the production of many human foods. It is produced from starch in a
series of enzyme-controlled reactions.

(b) One way of monitoring the progress of these reactions is to measure the amount of
reducing sugar produced.

(i) Describe a chemical test that would enable you to show that glucose syrup
contained reducing sugar.

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(ii) Suggest how you could use this test to compare the amount of reducing sugar in
two solutions.

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(4)

(c) The progress of these reactions can also be monitored by finding the dextrose equivalent
(DE).
Dextrose equivalent can be calculated from the formula:

numberof glycosidicbondshydrolised 100

DE = numberof glycosidicbondspresentin starch

Explain why pure glucose obtained from starch has a dextrose equivalent of 100.

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(1)
(Total 7 marks)

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2. The diagram shows a cell from a potato.

G ran u les

(a) Give two features which may be found in a prokaryotic cell which would not be found in
this cell.

1 ..................................................................................................................................

2 ..................................................................................................................................
(2)

(b) (i) Describe how you could confirm that the granules contained starch.

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(1)

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(ii) Name one polysaccharide other than starch that would be found in this cell.

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(1)

(c) Explain one advantage of storing starch rather than glucose in potato cells.

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(2)
(Total 6 marks)

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3. (a) The diagram shows a molecule of -glucose.

H OH
O

HO H

(i) Describe how this molecule differs from a molecule of α-glucose.

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(1)

(ii) Draw a diagram in the space below to show how two -glucose molecules join by
condensation.

(2)

(b) The table gives some information about four sugars.

Sugar Chemical formula Type of sugar

Glucose C6H12O6 Monosaccharide
Fructose C6H12O6 Monosaccharide
Sucrose C12H22O11 Disaccharide formed by condensation of
glucose and fructose
Maltose C12H22O11 Disaccharide formed by condensation of
glucose

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The diagram shows a chromatogram of some individual sugars and mixtures of sugars.

S o lv en t fro n t

× × × × × O rig in
M alto se A B C D

(i) The Rf value of maltose is 0.25. Mark on the diagram the position of the spot
representing maltose.
(1)

(ii) Which of A, B, C or D represents the complete hydrolysis of sucrose?

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(1)

(iii) The spots from mixture D were very close together. What could you do to a
chromatogram of mixture D to separate the spots further?

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(2)
(Total 7 marks)