Definition of carbohydrates:

Carbohydrate is most abundant molecule on earth.

A carbohydrate is biological molecule consisting of carbon (c) hydrogen (H) and oxygen
atom, usually with hydrogen-oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water) in other words, with
empirical formula (CH2O)n.

Carbohydrates are polyhydroxy aldehydes or ketones, or substances that yield such

compounds on hydrolysis. Some carbohydrates also contain nitrogen, phosphorous, or
sulfur.
Functions of carbohydrates:
● Fiber content .
● Dietary calories for most organism.
● Storage form of energy in body.
● Cell membrane component that mediate
extracellular function.
● Serve as structural component of many
organism e.g cell wall of bacteria ,
exoskeleton of many insects, fibrous
cellulose of plant.
 Monosaccharides:
The simplest of the carbohydrates, the
monosaccharides, are either aldehydes or ketones
with two or more hydroxyl groups.

Monosaccharides are colorless, crystalline solids that

are freely soluble in water but insoluble in nonopolar
solvents. Most have a sweet taste.

Example of monosaccharides includes glucose ,

fructose and galactose.
The backbones of common monosaccharides are
unbranched carbon chain in which all carbon atoms are
linked by single bonds. In the open-chain form, one of the
carbon atom is double-bonded to an oxygen atom to form
a carbonyl group: each of the other carbon atom has
hyroxylgroup.

If the carbonyl group is at an end of the carbon chain ( that

is, in an aldehyde group) the monosaccharidee is an aldose.

If carbonyl group is at any other position the

monosaccharide is a ketose.
Example of monosaccharides found in humans.

GENERIC NAMES EXAMPLES

● 3 carbons: trioses : Glyceraldehyde

● 4 carbons : tetroses : Erythrose
● 5 carbons : pentoses : Ribose
● 6 carbons : hexoses : Glucose
 Disaccharides
Disacchraide contain two monosaccharide joined
covalently by o-glycosidic bond, which is formed
when a hydroxyl group of one sugar reacts with
the anomeric carbon of the other.

e.g sucrose or table sugar, consists of one

molecule of glucose and one molecule of
fructose; the most familiar sources of sucrose are
sugar beet and cane sugar. Milk sugar, or
lactose, and maltose are also disaccharides.
Before the energy in disaccharides can be
utilized by living things, the molecules must be
broken down into their respective
monosaccharides
 Oligosaccharides :
● Oligosaccharide, any carbohydrate contain three to six
units of simple sugar(monosaccharides).
● A large number of oligosaccharides have been prepared
by partially breaking down more complex carbohydrates(
polysaccharides).
● Oligosaccharides can have many functions including cell
recognition and cell binding.
● Most of the few naturally occurring oligosaccharides are
found in plants raffinose, a trisaccharide found in many
plants, consists of melibiose ( galactose and glucose)
and farctose.
 polysaccharides
Polysaccharides are Large molecules that may consist of as many
as 10,000 monosaccharide units linked together, polysaccharides
vary considerably in size, in structural complexity, and present
most of the structural and energy-reserve carbohydrates found in
nature.e.g cellulose the principal structural component of plants,
is a complex polysaccharides contain many glucose units linked
together and glycogen found in animals also are complex glucose
polysaccharides.
Structure of polysaccharides:
 Isomers
isomerism is the phenomenon in which more than one compounds have the same chemical formula but
different chemical structures.e.g fructose , glucose, mannose and glactose are all isomers of each other.

Glucose and fructose are an example of C6H12O6 isomers, which differ based on the position of a double
bonded O atom. In glucose, the O is situated on the first C, whereas it is located on the second C in
fructose (the structures of each are shown below)

.
 Epimers:

Carbohydrates isomers that differ in configuration around only one carbon atom are called
epimers e.g glucose and glactose are epimers of each other.
Enantiomers: a pair of molecules that exist in two forms that are mirror images of one another
but cannot be superimposed one upon the other.These mirror images are designated as D-sugar
and L-sugar .
In d isomeric form oH- Group is present on right side of asymmetrical carbon.
In L isomeric form OH- group is present on left side of asymmetrical carbon.
A pair of enantiomers is distinguished by the direction in which when dissolved in solution they
rotate polarized light, either dextro (d or +) or levo (l or -) rotatory; hence the term optical
isomers. When two enantiomers are present in equal proportions they are collectively referred to
as a racemic mixture a mixture that does not rotate polarized light because the optical activity of
each enantiomer is cancelled by the other.
Example of enantiomers: