1.1 biological molecules carbohydrates Flashcards
what is a polymer?
A large molecule comprising of repeated, identical units (monomers) bonded together.
what are monosaccharides?
these are monomers:
3 = triose
5 = pentose
6 = hexose
What is the general formula for all monosaccharides?
Cn(H2O)n (e.g glucose C₆H₁₂O₆)
what is the function of triose?
Important in metabolism. Triose sugars are intermediates in the reactions of respiration and photosynthesis.
what is the function of pentose?
Constituents of nucleotides e.g. deoxyribose in DNA, ribose in RNA,ATP and ADP.
what is the function of hexose?
Glucose is a hexose sugar. Glucose is a source of energy inrespiration. Carbon-hydrogen and carbon-carbon bonds are broken to release energy, which is transferred to make adenosine triphosphate (ATP).
what is an isomer? give an example
An isomer is molecules with the same chemical formula but have different structures. An examples is glucose, which can be present as α glucose or β glucose.
what are disaccharides?
sugars made from 2 monosaccharide units formed by a condensation reaction while joining 2 compounds
What occurs in a hydrolysis reaction?
Water is chemically added to break a bond between monomers.
What occurs in a condensation reaction?
Water is chemically removed to form a bond between adjacent monomers.
glycosidic bond
formed by a condensation reaction in order to join two monosaccharides to create a disaccharide
maltose
When two α glucose molecules are joined by condensation reaction the disaccharide maltose is formed.
-a condensation reaction occurs from the removal of C1 from 1st glucose and C4 of the second, this can be reversed by a hydrolysis reaction to break the glycosidic bond formed.
-biological role in germinating seeds
sucrose
Made from the monosaccharides of glucose and fructose biological role: product of photosynthesis which is transported in the phloem
lactose
Made from glucose and galactose biological role: found in mammalian milk
What is common between all monosaccharides and some disaccharides such as maltose and sucrose?
all monosaccharides are reducing sugars some disaccharides are reducing sugars sucrose is a non reducing sugar
what are polysaccharides?
large complex polymers. They are formed from very large numbers of identical monosaccharide units, which are their monomers
Which properties of structural polysaccharides make them useful?
They are large in size so they are insoluble, they have linkages between molecules to increase strength. and they form fibres.
What are the two main storage polysaccharides?
Starch (Plants) and glycogen (Animals)
starch
Found in plants only and allows them to store glucose. Made up of α glucose monomers, added one at a time by condensation reaction. Starch has two types of polysaccharide: amylose and amylopectin.
Amylose
Amylose is unbranched and coils; each α glucose monomer added forms a C1 - C4 glycosidic bond with the adjacent glucose molecule.
forms a helix shape
Amylopectin
Amylopectin is branched, each branch point is formed by a C1 - C6 glycosidic bond.
Why is starch a good storage molecule?
They are osmotically inactive (don’t effect water potential of cell)compact molecule: large amount stored in small space
Which polysccharide is used to store glucose in animals and is especially found in muscle cells? What type of glycosidic bonds does it use?
Glycogen uses both 1,4 and 1,6 glycosidic bonds but has more branches than amylopectin for hydrolysis and therefore quicker energy release. glycogen is turgid because there is no cell wall
Cellulose
structural polysaccharide found in plant cell walls. Cellulose consists of many long, parallel chains of β glucose units which are joined by C1 - C4 glycosidic bonds. The β bond rotates adjacent glucose molecules by 180º