Carbohydrates Flashcards
What is a chiral carbon?
Carbon with 4 different groups attached to it
Which of the ff amino acids DOES NOT have a chiral carbon?
(a) valine (b) tryptophan (c) glycine (d) phenylalanine
(c) glycine
* Glycine is the ONLY non-chiral amino acid. (It has 2 H’s attached to its alpha-carbon)
What is mutarotation?
Conversion between alpha- and beta-anomers
RECALL: alpha-anomer is the form with -OH below and beta-anomer is the form with -OH above the plan of the molecule
What is the form of carbohydrates naturally occurring in nature?
D-carbohydrates such as D-glucose, D-mannose, etc
What is the most stable conformational isomer for a 6-C sugar?
(a) boat (b) chair (c) envelope
(b) chair
The chair conformation does not have any steric strain, and has the most stable angles (60 degrees) in its structure.
What the reactive groups in carbohydrates? (also forms a basis of classification)
Aldehydes and ketones
Carbohydrates can be classified as either aldoses or ketoses.
Which among the following is an aldose-ketose pair?
(a) glucose-fructose (b) glucose-mannose (c) fructose-ribulose
(a) glucose-fructose
(b) glucose and mannose are both ALDOSES and (c) fructose and ribulose are both KETOSES
Carbohydrates can also be classified according to the number of carbons.
If ribose has 5 carbons, how will you name it?
Pentose
Which among the ff are monosaccharides? How would you classify those which are NOT monosaccharides in the choices?
Fructose, maltose, glucose, galactose, lactose
Glucose, galactose and fructose are MONOSACCHARIDES.
Maltose and lactose are DISACCHARIDES.
What monosaccharides make up maltose?
Glucose-glucose
What monosaccharides make up lactose?
Galactose-glucose
What monosaccharides make up sucrose?
Glucose-fructose
What bond joins 2 monosaccharides?
Glycosidic bond
What is a polysaccharide?
A polymer of monosaccharides
Examples of polysaccharides
Glycogen, cellulose, starch
Differentiate heteropolysaccharides and homopolysaccharides. Give 1 example each.
Heteropolysaccharides: made up of more than 1 type of monosaccharide
ex. peptidoglycan (found in bacterial cell walls)
Homopolysaccharide: made up of 1 type of monosaccharide only
ex. glycogen, starch
Difference between starch and cellulose?
Starch forms alpha (1-4) bonds. Cellulose forms beta (1-6) bonds.