26.1. Carbohydrates http://www.ck12.org
26.1 Carbohydrates
Lesson Objectives
- Draw open-chain and cyclic structures for carbohydrates.
- Classify carbohydrates by chain length.
- Classify carbohydrates as monosaccharides, disaccharides, or polysaccharides.
- Describe the digestion and utilization of carbohydrates in the body.
Lesson Vocabulary
- carbohydrate: A class of organic compounds with a chemical formula of the form Cn(H 2 O)n, or a derivative
of such a compound. - monosaccharide: The simplest basic unit of carbohydrates.
- disaccharide: A simple carbohydrate made up of two monosaccharides.
- polysaccharide: A carbohydrate made of many monosaccharides.
- glycogen: A polysaccharide composed of long chains of glucose units.
- glycolysis: The "splitting of glucose" to form products used in biochemical energy production.
- gluconeogenesis: The process of generating glucose from other chemical components in the body.
Check Your Understanding
Recalling Past Knowledge
- What are the structures for each of the following functional groups:
- alcohol
- aldehyde
- ketone
Carbohydrate Structure
Carbohydratesare a class of organic compounds in which each carbon in the chain is bonded to an oxygen atom,
either through a single bond to an OH group or through a double bond, making a carbonyl. The name comes from
the fact that the chemical formula for a carbohydrate can be written in the form Cn(H 2 O)n, where n is some integer.
However, carbohydrates are not actually "hydrates of carbon." No water molecules are actually present, and each
oxygen in the formula is bonded to at least one carbon atom.
One of the most important carbohydrates is glucose, shown in theFigure26.1.