CARBOHYDRATES

 Sources of energy, building materials, cell surface markers

 (CH2O)n n = number of carbons

Energy Storage - An average 70 kg person stores

 1000 kcal glucose as glycogen
 25 000 kcal amino acids as available protein
 >100 000 kcal fat
Some cells require glucose
 Brain (fatty acids can’t cross the blood brain barrier)
 lens and red blood cells (no mito.)

Monosaccharides:
 Names usually end in –ose
 3-7 carbons long
 Some sugars only differ in spatial arrangements of functional groups
 Sugars can be ketoses or aldoses (C=O in middle or at end)

Triose sugars Pentose sugars Hexose sugars (6-carbon)

(3-carbon) (5-carbon)
Aldoses

glyceraldehyde
ribose glucose galactose

Ketoses

dihydroxyacetone
ribulose
fructose

Note: Glucose, galactose, and fructose are isomers (C6H12O6).

Isomers contain the same number and types of atoms but have different
arrangements, shapes, and physical and chemical properties.
  In aqueous solutions most sugars form ring structures

α-glucose
~ 33%

β –glucose
~ 66%

Oligosaccharides: (-ose ending)

 Double (di-) and triple (tri-)
 Glycosidic linkages: Covalent bond formed through a condensation reaction
that links monosaccharides.
(Dehydration Synthesis)
o Maltose = 1 α-Glucose + 1 α-Glucose (or 1 β-Glucose)
  Held together with 1-4 glycosidic linkage
 Found in grains and used in the production of beer

o Sucrose = 1 α-Glucose + 1 β-Fructose

 1-2 glycosidic linkage
 Table sugar

o Lactose = β-Glucose + β-Galactose

 Found in milk

Polysaccharides
 Polymer 100s to 1000s of monosaccharide subunits
 Energy storage (starch and glycogen) and structural support
(cellulose and chitin)

Starch
 Produced by plants
 Stored in chloroplasts, amyloplasts, and other plastids
 Mixture of amylose and amylopectin

Amylose
 o Straight chain polymer of α-glucose with 1-4 glycosidic linkages
o Alpha helix shape (cork screw)
o slightly soluble

Amylopectin
o Branched chain polymer of α-glucose
1-4 glycosidic linkages (main chain) and 1-6 linkages (branch points)
o insoluble in water

Glycogen
 Produce by animals and stored in liver and muscles
 Same linkages as amylopectin but more branched

Cellulose
 Major component of plant cell walls
 Most abundant organic compound on earth
 Straight-chain polymer with β-glucose held together by β 1-4 glycosidic
linkages

 Does not form helixes – allows hydroxyl groups of parallel molecules to form
many H-bonds, producing tight bundles called microfibrils
  Microfibrils intertwine to form tough, insoluble cellulose fibers
 Strength useful in lumber, paper, cotton, linen, etc.
 Very few organisms produce cellulases, enzymes that hydrolyze cellulose
o Cows, sheep, and rabbits have symbiotic bacteria in their guts that can
break the β-glucose linkages
 Important source of fiber in human diet

Chitin
 Second most abundant organic material in the world
 Used in hard exoskeleton of insects and crustaceans (e.g. lobster) and in the
cell walls of fungi
 Similar to cellulose except a nitrogen-containing group is attached to carbon-
2
Reducing sugars
Sugars that have a free anomeric carbon (C=0 in linear form) can be oxidized.
(Benedict's Test)

Reducing agent is oxidized

Oxidizing agent is reduced

LEO – Lose electrons oxidation

GER – Gain electrons reduction