There are 3 types of

carbohydrates:
Monosaccharides
 are simple sugars,sometimes referred to as basic sugar.

 cannot be broken down into simpler units.

 General formula is (CH₂O)η

 There are 3 types of monosaccharides:

Trioses (n=3)
Pentoses (n=5)
Hexoses (n=6)
 Monosaccharides contain either an aldehyde group
(-CHO) or a ketone group (C=O).

 Aldehyde group: aldose sugar or aldoses and have

the carbonyl groupon a terminal carbon in the chain.

 Ketone group: have the carbonyl group in the

middle of the carbon chain.It have many pleasant
odours and tastes.

 The features that makes an aldose differ from a

ketose is theposition of the carbonyl group:
-Aldose have the carbonyl group at carbon no.1
-Ketose have the carbonyl group at carbon no.2
Functional Groups

Carbonyl group

Hydroxyl group
Classification of Monosaccharides
TRIOSES
Contain 3 carbon atom.
Occur only in straight line.
An aldehyde group is present in glyceraldehyde whereas
keto group is present in dihydroxyacetone.
PENTOSES
 Contain 5 carbon atoms.
 Occur in a sraight chains as well as ring forms.
 Example: Ribose and deoxyribose ( in nucleic acid).
 Another example is ribulose which is by product in
photosynthesis.
 In pentoses,the ring structure is afuranosevring with the
first carbon atom joining to the oxygen of the fourth
carbon atom.
HEXOSES
 Contain six carbon atoms.
 Can either occur as aldehyde or ketone.
 For example:Glucose(aldose) and fructose(ketose).
 Can exist as straight chains but they tend to form ring
structures.
 Ring glucose molecule exist as α-glucose or β-glucose.
 Glucose with both OH group at carbon no.1 and carbon
no.4 positioned below the plane of the ring is called α-
glucose and conversely.
 Glucose can exist in two possible ring
forms known as:

Alpha (α) form Beta (β) form

Physical Characteristics of
Monosaccharides
Sweet and have smaller molecular mass compared to
other sugars.

Soluble in water and able to crystallize.

Can underga condensation to form disaccharides and

polymer of glucose such as polysaccharides.
Function of Monosaccharides
 Provide energy.

 Basic building units for disaccharides and

polysaccharides-mostly from hexose unit.

 Glucose is a vital respiratory substrate for all

organism.

 Monosaccharides help to create a high osmotic

pressure in plant cell.
DISACCHARIDES
 The general formula are C12H22O11.
 Formed when two Monosaccharides joining together
by a glycosidic bond formed through a condensation
process.
 Can be broken down into Monosaccharides by a
hydrolysis process.
 There are three common Monosaccharides:
a) Maltose: glucose+glucose
b)Sucrose: glucose+fructose
c) Lactose: galactose+ glucose
Maltose = α-glucose + α-glucose
(α-1,4- glycosidic linkage)
Lactose = β -glucose + β -galactose
(β -1,4- glycosidic linkage)

Condensation
Hydrolysis
Sucrose = α-glucose + β-fructose
(α-1,2- glycosidic linkage)
Glycosidic Bond
In the case of two glucose molecule,the bond will be
formed between carbon-1 in one of the molecules and
carbon-4 in the other,giving an α-1,4 glycosidic bond.

The type of glycosidic bonds is based on the position

of the OH in the carbon atom number 1.
Polysaccharides

 Polymers of monosaccharide

 The chains of monosaccharide molecules are

linked together by glycosidic bonds

 The chains may be branched or unbranched

 They are generally:
Examples:
1. Insoluble in water
1. starch
2. Not sweet in taste
2. glycogen
3. Forming colloid in
water 3. cellulose

5. Cannot be crystallize

 All three polymers are formed from the polymerisation of many

units of glucose through condensation (dehydration)
 Function of polysaccharide

 Energy source - starch & glycogen

 Basic component of structure - cellulose &

hemicelluloses

 Protection & immunization - heparin in

mammals blood prevent/dissolve blood
clotting
 1. Starch
 A polymer of α-glucose
 Two types of
starch:

1. Amylose
- Simple &
Unbranched

2. Amylopectin
- Complex &
branched
 Amylose

 Composed of about 200-1500 of α-

glucose molecules linked together in
long, unbranched chain

 Each linkage occurs between the carbon

number 1 of one glucose molecule and
the carbon number 4 of another glucose
molecule (α-1,4-glycosidic linkages)
 Amylopectin
 A branched polymer of 2000 to 200000
α-glucose molecules

 The linear chains of α-glucose units are

held together by α-1,4-glycosidic
linkages

 Branches occur at intervals of

approximately 25 to 30 where α-1,6-
glycosidic linkages occurs
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
 2. Glycogen
 Glycogen is made up of short & highly
branched chains of α– glucose

 Found in muscle and liver cells

 Characteristics

1) Not sweet in taste

2) insoluble in water
3) cannot be crystallize
4) compact molecule
 3. Cellulose

 A polymer of ß- glucose

 A structural carbohydrate that is used to

build cell walls in a plant (found only in
plants)

 It has ß-1,4-glycosidic linkage which are

linked together by hydrogen bonds to
form a rigid structure
 The ß- glucose monomer located upside
down with its neighbors compare to starch