Date: 03.30.

09 Sub: Chemistry

Standard C.3.6 Identify the basic structure of common polymers (including

proteins, nucleic acids, plastics, and starches)
Objective: To describe the structural characteristics of simple carbohydrates and
complex carbohydrates.

Biochemistry is the study of the chemicals and reactions that occur in living things.
Biological compounds are often large and complex organic molecules but their chemistry
is similar to that of the smaller organic molecules we studied before. In this week we are
going to learn many important biochemical molecules and learn their importance to stay
healthy. Carbohydrates and lipids are the two most common bio molecules known to you
that supplies most of the energy that your body needs.

1. Define: Biochemistry
2. What are Bio molecules? Name two Bio molecules.

Carbohydrates
CARBOHYDRATES are the body's most preferred source of energy. They make up, by
far, the largest volume (60%) of our daily food. They are taken in the form of all foods
made up of grain flour, cereals, pasta, potatoes and other vegetables, and also in the form
of sugars contained in fruits, syrups, honey and candy, as well as in the pure crystalline
form of our familiar table "sugar". Most carbohydrates come from foods of plant origin.
The major simple carbohydrates or sugars are glucose, maltose, fructose, and sucrose
which come from plants. Lactose is found in milk
Carbohydrates are molecules that are composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms
in a 1:2:1 ratio, and provide nutrients to the cells of living things. All carbohydrates have
the general formula CnH2nOn
side note --- this can be re-written as Cn(H2O)n and thus you can see the carbon
component and the water (hydrate) component; HOWEVER, this name is not an
indicator of the actual structure of carbohydrates- the name is just showing what the early
scientists originally believed.

3. Which three elements make carbohydrates?

4. What percentage of our body volume consists of carbohydrates?
5. Give examples of sources of different carbohydrates
6. Use the general formula given above and give the formula for carbohydrate
having 6 carbon atoms.
7. How was the name carbohydrates derived originally?

Carbohydrate Classification
Monosaccharides
A monosaccharide is a simple sugar that is the basic subunit of a carbohydrate. A single
monosaccharide molecule contains three to seven carbon atoms. Monosaccharide
compounds are typically sweet tasting, white solids at room temperature. Because they
have polar, hydroxyl (-OH) groups in their molecular structures, they are very soluble in
water.
The most common monosaccharide’s are glucose (also called fructose) and fructose.
Although both of these monosaccharide have the same formula C6H12O6, their structural
formulas differ. As shown below, structure of glucose in a water solution forms a ring
made up of five carbon atoms and one oxygen atom, and fructose in a water solution
forms a ring made up of four carbon atoms and one oxygen atom.
Glucose is the most abundant monsaccharide in nature. Fructose, also called fruit sugar,
is found in most fruits and in honey. The sweetest naturally occurring sugar, fructose is
sweeter than table sugar. Because of its sweetness, fructose is sometimes used as a low
calorie sweetener because less fructose is needed to produce the same sweetness that
table sugar does.

8. Why are monosaccharide’s soluble in water?

9. Observe the structure of glucose and fructose and give similarities and differences
between the two.
10. Look at the structure of sucrose and give the formula of sucrose.
11. Explain: Fructose is used as a low calorie sweetner