Carbohydrates Intro Flashcards
What are the major characteristic features of monosaccharides?
1) they contain an aldehyde or a ketone
2) they contain multiple hydroxyl group
How are monosaccharides named?
It’s a combination of information about the number of carbons and the functional group, adding -ose at the end
How can you classify monosaccharides?
1) aldoses or ketoses (either aldehyde or ketone)
2) based on the number of carbons it contains (heptoses, pentoses, etc)
With one limitation of the carbon being 3 at least
What is the formula for monosaccharides?
CnH2nOn
With one limitation of the carbon being 3 at least
What are the cellular functions of carbohydrates?
1) energy
2) structure
3) communication
4) precursor for other biomolecules
- Direct link between solar & chemical bond energy (we can synthesize glucose only from intermediate levels not from scratch)
What is a monosaccharide?
Simple sugars they are polyhydroxy aldehyde or ketones (aldehyde = aldoses, ketone = ketoses)
What are the most abundant type of carbohydrate in living cells?
Hexoses (the aldehyde must be at carbon number 1) & ketoses (the ketone must be at carbon number 2)
How to know the number of isomers/optical of monosaccharides?
2^n of the number of chiral centers. (two stereoisomers D (right) & L (left) the way you look at the page)
If you have more than one chiral center you name it D or L based on the OH of the farthest carbon from the carbonyl group (CHO)
In which form does the monosaccharides occur mainly, and mainly derived from what?
D- form, D-Glyceraldehyde and dihydroxyacetone
What is an Enantiomers?
Optical isomer Compounds that have the same structural formula forming a mirror images
What is a Diastereomer?
Optical isomer Compounds that have the same structural formula but don’t form mirror images in more than one carbon
What is an epimer?
Diastereomers that only differ in one carbon
What is the structural link between D-Glucose and D-galactose?
C4-Epimers
In which Form do we find monosaccharides in nature and why?
In sugars with 4+ carbons they exist as a Cyclic form as they can form hemiacital and hemiketal with the most common form being in the interaction of C1 (aldehydes) /C2 (ketones) with C5 as it’s the most stable this is a reversible reaction
What is an anomeric carbon?
A term associated with cyclic sugars which refers to the carbon that was either a aldehyde or a ketone in the open chain structure which is a new type of isomers giving alpha and beta (in a structure you can depict it as it’s the only carbon bound to two oxygen atoms)
What is meant by anomers?
The two possible diastereomers that form due to cyclization
What defines alpha and beta isomers?
Based on the OH at the anomeric carbon if it’s down then it’s alpha (right in Fischer projection) if it’s up then it’s beta (left in Fischer projection)
What are the different ways to draw the structure of monosaccharides?
1) Haworth structure
2) Fischer projection
3) conformational structure (shows the puckered nature of sugar rings,
4) space filling
5) X-ray and bond analysis
How many different type of cycles do we have in sugars?
1) five membered ring (furanoses, usually by ketoses)
2) six membered ring (pyranoses, usually by aldohexoses)
What is meant by mutarotation?
The change between a- and b- forms of monosaccharides, it is a spontaneous process producing a mixture of a- & b- in both furanoses and pyranoses in an aqueous environment mostly 62% in b-form (we should maintain this equilibrium)
What are the reactions of monosaccharides?
Their carbonyl and hydroxyl groups can undergo several reactions,
1) oxidation
2) reduction
3) isomerization
4) Esterification
5) glycoside formation
6) glycosylation reactions
What is the oxidation reaction of monosaccharides and which type of monosaccharides are capable of doing it?
Aldoses, usually ketoses don’t undergo oxidation reaction due to the nature of the ketone group, it can occur in the aldehyde group (producing an -onic acid “Aldonic acid”) or in the last hydroxyl group (-uronic acid) so from the name you can tell which group have been oxidized if both are oxidized at the same time they will produce (-aric acid “aldaric acid”) this reaction can undergo in the presence of metal ions or certain enzymes
What is a lactone?
Cyclization of an aldonic/uronic acid reacting with an OH in the molecule
What is ascorbic acid?
Vitamin C, reducing agent, important as an antioxidant and a cofactor for some enzymes