Carbohydrates (PPT) - CHEM 17 (LEC)

Flashcards summarizing key terms and concepts related to carbohydrates from the lecture on General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry.

Carbohydrates

The most abundant macromolecules that serve purposes ranging from energy storage to structural components.

Monosaccharides

The simplest carbohydrates that consist of single sugar units, such as glucose.

Disaccharides

Carbohydrates formed from two monosaccharides, examples include sucrose and lactose.

Polysaccharides

Complex carbohydrates composed of many monosaccharides, such as starch, glycogen, and cellulose.

Aldoses

Monosaccharides that contain an aldehyde group.

Ketoses

Monosaccharides that contain a ketone group.

α-D-Glucose

The most common hexose, found in various foods and is a building block for disaccharides and polysaccharides.

D-Galactose

An aldohexose obtained from lactose, important in cellular membranes.

D-Fructose

The sweetest carbohydrate, a ketohexose that is double the sweetness of sucrose.

Glycosidic bond

The bond formed between monosaccharides during the dehydration reaction that makes disaccharides.

Reducing sugars

Sugars that can act as reducing agents due to their free aldehyde or ketone group.

Cellulose

A polysaccharide that serves as a structural component in plant cell walls and cannot be digested by humans.

Glycogen

A highly branched polysaccharide that serves as an energy storage form in animals.

Starch

A storage form of glucose in plants, composed of amylose and amylopectin.

Fischer projection

A two-dimensional representation of a molecule that shows the arrangement of atoms in a chain.

Haworth projection

A way to depict the cyclic structure of monosaccharides in a simplified form.

Chiral carbon

A carbon atom that has four different atoms or groups attached, resulting in non-superimposable mirror images.

Enantiomers

Stereoisomers that are mirror images of each other and cannot be superimposed.

Mutarotation

The process by which cyclic structures of monosaccharides interconvert between α and β forms in solution.

Glycosaminoglycans

Unbranched polysaccharides composed of repeating disaccharide units that play roles in lubrication and cushioning in the body.