1.4 Carbohydrates Flashcards
Carbohydrates
Large, yet relatively simple biological molecules
- Mainly composed of C, H & O
- Perform many complex cellular functions
✓Energy source
✓Provide cellular structural support
✓Cell-to-cell communication
✓Are raw materials used to build other important molecules (e.g. amino acids)
The most abundant
biological molecules on
Earth?
Carbohydrates
Found in fruit, grains, and
vegetables
Monosaccharides form ______ structures in water
Ring
But.. often linear
The Simplest carbohydrate,
consists of a single sugar
molecule is called
Monosaccharides
Monosaccharides contain either..
3 carbons, 5 carbons or 6 carbons in living organisms
Isomers
A molecule that has the same composition but different arrangement of atoms
E.g., glucose can have
2 possible –OH group arrangements called α-glucose and β- glucose
Different chemical
arrangements can give
isomers very different
functions
Generally have many POLAR
FUNCTIONAL GROUPS
attached to them
Monosaccharides
What makes sugars
hydrophilic and thus highly
soluble in water
FUNCTIONAL GROUPS
Monosaccharides sweet taste requires them to be…
Dissolved in water
increase the #of monosachharides—> decrease sweetness
Disaccharides
A carbohydrate made up of TWO monosacharides
Ex. of Dissachrides
Glucose + Gluecose = Maltose
Disaccharides Contain the same
functional groups as
monosaccharides therefore..
Therefore they are still
water soluble
Polysaccharides
Molecule that contains more than 2 linked monosaccharides
Often contain hundreds to thousands of monosaccharides
Polymerization
The linking of smaller subunits to create a larger molecule
Monomer
A single subunit
