Carbohydrates Flashcards

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and definitions related to carbohydrates, monosaccharides, disaccharides, polysaccharides, and their structures.

Monosaccharides

Monomers; single sugars named according to the number of carbon atoms in the molecule.

Structural Isomers

Molecules with the same molecular formula but with different arrangements of their atoms.

Disaccharides

Sugars made from two monosaccharide units.

Glycosidic Bond

The bond that holds two monosaccharides together.

Hydrolysis Reaction

The chemical insertion of water that breaks a glycosidic bond.

Polysaccharides

Complex carbohydrates; large molecules consisting of chains of monosaccharides linked together by glycosidic bonds.

Starch

A mixture of two different polysaccharides, amylose and amylopectin.

Amylose

Forms coiled molecules in starch.

Amylopectin

A branched molecule found in starch, with α-1,4 and α-1,6 glycosidic bonds.

Glycogen

Similar to amylopectin but is even more branched and acts as a carbohydrate/energy store.

Cellulose

A complex carbohydrate made of a polymer of β-glucose molecules that forms microfibrils.

Cellulose

A structural polysaccharide with very high tensile strength, found in plant cell walls.

Chitin

Found in the cell walls of fungi and exoskeletons of insects; a heteropolysaccharide containing nitrogen.