• Carbohydrates can be defined chemically as neutral compounds of carbon,

hydrogen and oxygen.

• Carbohydrates, also called Carbs, are defined as aldehydic or ketonic
compounds with a some number of oxydrilic groups (so polyhydroxy
aldehydes or ketones as well).

• The word carbohydrates can be traced back to Germans, who called them
“Kohlenhydrates”. It was then termed Carbohydrates in English
CHEMICAL BASIS

PHYSIOLOGICAL
BASIS

ON THE BASIS OF
AVAILABILITY
M
On the basis of the number of forming units, three major classes of
carbohydrates can be defined: monosaccharides, oligosaccharides and
polysaccharides.

Classification of Monosaccharides
• The monosaccharides are the simplest of the carbohydrates, since they
contain only one
polyhydroxy aldehyde or ketone unit.
No. of carbons class of Monosaccharide
3 triose
4 tetrose
5 pentose
6 hexose
• The monosaccharides are the simplest of the carbohydrates, since they contain only
one polyhydroxy aldehyde or ketone unit.

• Monosaccharides are classified according to the number of carbon atoms they

contain:
The presence of an aldehyde is indicated by the prefix aldo-and a ketone by the
prefix keto-
No. of carbons class of Monosaccharide
3 triose
4 tetrose
5 pentose
6 hexose
• Most monosaccharides have a sweet taste (fructose is sweetest; 73% sweeter
than sucrose).

• They are solids at room temperature.

• They are extremely soluble in water.

– Despite their high molecular weights, the presence of large numbers of OH

groups make the monosaccharides much more water soluble than most
molecules of similar MW.

– Glucose can dissolve in minute amounts of water

to make a syrup (1 g / 1 ml H2O)
• Monosaccharides do not usually exist in solution in their “open-chain” forms: an
alcohol group can add into the carbonyl group in the same molecule to form
a pyranose ringcontaining a stable cyclic hemiacetal or hemiketal.
 Extraction of monosaccharide's
Fresh plant material

Homogenized with 4parts of dis.water

for15minFiltration

Conc. In vaccum to 1/10th of its volume

Allowed to crystallize in refrigerator

1.Fructose  Also known as "Fruit Sugar"
("Fruit  Main sources are many kinds of fruits, as well as honey.
Sugar")
2.Glucose  Very important in animal (including human) physiology, diet and
nutrition -
because glucose is the form of sugar that is used by the body for
energy.
 All other carbohydrates, including all other sugars, are converted
into glucose within the digestive system (digestive processes)
 Present in various forms of vegetation including many ripe fruits as
well as onions and beetroot.
3.Galactos  Present in mammals' milk
e (see also the disaccharide Lactose, which is composed of glucose
and galactose)
 Two monosaccharides canbe linked together through a glycosidic linkage
to form a disaccharide

PROPERTIES
• Crystalline compounds.
• Soluble in water
• Sweet to taste.
• Must be digested to monosaccharide's ‘before absorbed and used for energy.
• When disaccharides are dissolved in water, they would cause the
lowering of water potential of the solution.
There are two functionally different classes of disaccharides:

REDUCING DISACCHARIDES, in which one monosaccharide, the reducing

sugar of the pair, still has a free hemiacetal unit that can perform as a reducing
aldehyde group; cellobiose and maltose are examples of reducing disaccharides,
each with one hemiacetal unit, the other occupied by the glycosidic bond, which
prevents it from acting as a reducing agent.

NON-REDUCING DISACCHARIDES, in which the component monosaccharides

bond through an acetal linkage between their anomeric centers..
Sucrose  Chemically, Sucrose (molecule) = Glucose (molecule) +
Fructose (molecule)
 Common form of sugar obtained from sugar cane or
sugar beet
 Also present in some fruits and vegetables
Lactose  Chemically, Lactose (molecule) = Glucose (molecule) +
Galactose (molecule)
 Present in mammals' milk, hence associated with diary
products
 Provides mammilian infants with a source of energy

Maltose  Chemically, ONE Maltose molecule consists of TWO

Glucose molecules attached together
 Present in cereals e.g. barley
 Also known as "Malt Sugar"
•Oligosaccharides are formed by short chains of monosaccharidic
units (from 2 to 20) linked one to the next by chemical bounds, called
glycosidic bounds.

•The most abundant oligosaccharides are disaccharides, formed by two

monosaccharides, and especially in the human diet the most important
are sucrose (common table sugar), lactose and maltose. Within cells
many oligosaccharides formed by three or more units do not find
themselves as free molecules but linked to other ones, lipids or
proteins, to form glycoconjugate
Extraction of oligosaccharides

Fresh plant material

Homogenized with 6-8 parts of hot water at 90ᵒ c for 15min

Filter the solution through celite while hot

Conc. in vaccum to 1/10th of its volume

Allowed to crystallize in refrigerator

1. Fructo-oligosaccharides  Chemically, consist of short
(FOS) chains of fructose molecules
 Present in certain plants e.g.
some artichokes, burdock,
chicory, leeks, onions,
asparagus.

2. Galactooligosaccharides  Chemically, consist of short

(GOS) chains of galactose
moleculesCan be synthesized
from lactose (a disaccharide -
see above)
3. Mannan Oligosaccharides  Used in some animal feeds -
(MOS) for digestive health, energy,
Unlike other oligosaccharides,
MOS are not fermentable
Polysaccharides contain hundreds or thousands of carbohydrate units.
• Polysaccharides are not reducing sugars, since the anomeric carbons are
connected through glycosidiclinkages.

Polysaccharides are polymers consisting of 20 to 107 monosaccharidic

units; they differ each other for the monosaccharides recurring in the
structure, for the length and the degree of branching of chains or for the type
of links between units.

Whereas in the plant kingdom several types of polysaccharides are present,

in vertebrates there are only a small number
PROPERTIES:

• Amorphous compounds.
• Not Soluble in water.
• Not Sweet to taste.
• They form colloidal suspensions instead of solution & must be
digested before being absorbed.
1.Starch  Chemically, consists of long chains of glucose (a
monosaccharide, see above) molecules
 Formed by plants during photosynthesis
 Present in many plant-based food sources, such as root
vegetables. e.g. potatoes, cereals e.g. and pulses.

2.Dextrin  Formed when starchy foods (i.e. foods that contain starch, such
as bread or potatoes) are baked or toasted. Dextrin is formed as
part of the dry "crust"
 Dextrin is more soluble than starch

3.Cellulose  Chemically, consists of long chains of glucose (a

monosaccharide - see above) molecules
 Forms the structure of some plants
 Indigestible by humans but digestible by some other animals."
4.Pectin  Present in the roots
and/or fruits of
certain plants e.g.
types of plums and
apples
 Pectin forms a gel
in water and has
uses for setting jam
and making various
sweet foods.
 Sometimes used as
a vegan alternative
to gelatin (also
known as gelatine)
in the preparation
of "set" or glazed
Glycogen  The stored form of
glucose (glucose is a
monosaccharide - see
above) present in animals
including humans.
 Energy store within the
body, stored within
muscles and the liver and
brain
 Humans store sufficient
glycogen for 24 hours
On the basis of their degree of polymerization, they can be classified as:

simple: mono- and disaccharides (also known as “sugars”) and tri- and
tetrasaccharides (oligosaccharides);

complex: the polysaccharides.

A further classification lays the foundations on the possibility of being used directly
for energy purpose, so:
AVAILABLE, as glucose, fructose, galactose between
monosaccharides, sucrose, lactose, maltose and maltodextrin between
oligosaccharides, and starch and glycogen between polysaccharides;

NOT AVAILABLE, as xylose (monosaccharide), lactulose (see lactose) and raffinose

(respectively di- and trisaccharide), fiber (cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, pectins etc.)
and resistant or not digestible starch (polysaccharides). The members of this class, also
if ingested, are not digestible nor absorbable and will be fermented by intestinal flora
with release of short chain fatty acids and so yielding some energy.
• Most abundant bio molecules.
• Main source of energy (4 kcal/gm) .
• Absolutely required for RBCs’ & brain cells.
• Storage form of energy i.e. starch & glycogen.
• Required for oxidation of fats.
• Excess CHO are converted into fats.
• Glyco protein & Glyco lipids are components of cell
membrane.
• Structural basis of many organisms.
• Used as drugs i.e. antibiotics & cardiac Glycosides
• The compounds possessing identical molecular formula but different
structures are called isomers.

Various types of isomerism

1. Structural isomerism
2. Stereoisomerism
STRUCTURAL ISOMERISM
• Same molecular formulae but differ
from each
other by having different structures.
STEREOISOMERISM
• Same molecular formula and same structure but they differ in configuration.
• That is arrangement of their atoms in space.
• Presence of asymmetric carbon atoms allow
the formation of stereoisomerism

• The important types of stereoisomerism associated with glucose are

D and L isomerism
Optical isomerism
Epimerism
α and βanomerism
D and L isomerism
OPTICAL ISOMERISM
• Optical activity is the capacity of a substanceto rotate the plane polarized
light passing through it.
Clockwise direction
• Dextrorotatory(d) or (+)
Counterclockwise direction
• Levorotatory(l)or (-
EPIMERISM
• Epimerism is the stereoisomerism if two
monosaccharides differ from each other in
their configuration around a single specific
carbon(other than anomeric) atom
ANOMERISM
• These are isomers obtained from the change
of position of hydroxyl group attached to the
anomeric carbon e.g. and glucose are 2
anomers.
• Also and fructose are 2 anomers
MUTAROTATION is defined as the change in the specific optical rotation
by the interconversion of α and β forms of D glucose to an
equilibrium mixture