Carbohydrates - PHRM 611 Macromolecules in Life

Flashcards created to cover key concepts and definitions from the lecture notes on carbohydrates.

What is the most important carbohydrate?

Glucose

What is the biomedical importance of glucose?

Glucose is the most important carbohydrate, serving as fuel in muscle cells, and excess is stored as glycogen or converted to fat.

How is extra glucose stored in the body?

As glycogen in the liver or converted to fat

Where is glycogen stored in the body?

Liver

What are diseases or conditions associated with carbohydrate metabolism?

Diabetes mellitus, galactosemia, glycogen storage diseases, lactose intolerance

What are carbohydrates monomers?

Monosaccharides

What are monosaccharides polymers?

Polysaccharides

What are carbohydrates defined as?

Polymers of monosaccharides; polyhydroxy compounds containing a C=O that cyclize in water.

What is the most abundant macromolecules?

carbohydrates

How is the structural diversity of carbohydrates determined?

stereochemistry

How are monosaccharides classified?

By configuration of bottom-most stereocenter, the type of carbonyl group, and number of carbon atoms.

Functions of carbohydrates

energy storage, fuel, cell structure, signal transduction

What are monosaccharides?

sugars that cannot be further hydrolyzed into simpler carbohydrates

What is the simplest carbohydrate?

Glyceraldehyde

What do monosaccharides contain multiple of?

stereogenic centers

What does stereogenic centers in monosaccharides lead to?

structural diversity

How many stereogenic centes does Glyceraldehyde contain?

1

How many stereoisomers does glyceraldehyde contain?

2

L

OH on the left

D

OH on the right

Aldo

aldehyde

Keto

ketone

3 carbons

triose

4 carbons

tetrose

5

pentose

6

hexose

7

heptose

How do you calculate the number of stereoisomers?

2ⁿ

What is cyclization in the context of monosaccharides?

The process where monosaccharides form cyclic structures in water, leading to a variety of isomers.

What do monosaccharides tend to do in water?

cyclize

α-anomer

Hydroxyl group is on the opposite side of anomeric side

β-anomer

Hydroxyl group is on the same side of the anomeric carbon

Differentiate between pyranoses and furanoses.

Pyranoses are six-membered cyclic monosaccharides, while furanoses are five-membered cyclic monosaccharides.

Pyranose

A six-membered cyclic monosaccharide that contains one oxygen atom in the ring.

Furanoses

Five-membered cyclic monosaccharides that include one oxygen atom in the ring.

Disaccharides

are carbohydrates formed by two monosaccharides linked together by a glycosidic bond.

Oligosaccharides

are carbohydrates composed of a small number of monosaccharide units, typically 3 to 10, joined by glycosidic bonds.

What types of linkages are found in disaccharides and oligosaccharides?

Types of glycoside linkages.

Starch

polymer of α-D-glucose

Cellulose: polymer of b-D-glucose

What are the three types of polysaccharides discussed?

Starch, cellulose, and glycogen.

Glycogen

a polymer of α-D-glucose with α-1,4 glycoside linkages & α 1,6 branches

What is the role of glycoproteins?

Proteins with specific carbohydrate moieties that often function as transmembrane proteins.

Glycoproteins

proteins w/specific carbohydrate moieties attached

What characterizes proteoglycans?

They are heavily glycosylated proteins that are components of the extracellular matrix.

Proteoglycans

proteins that are heavily glycosylated

Where are proteoglycans found?

Connective tissue

Where are glycoproteins present?

on cell surface/within cell membrane

Where are proteoglycans present?

connective tissue