Structure of carbohydrates

Structure of carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are classified into three subtypes: Monosaccharides, disaccharides, and polysaccharides.

The structure of carbohydrates determines how energy is stored in carbohydrate bonds during photosynthesis and how breaking these bonds releases energy through respiration.

Monosaccharides Monosaccharides consist of a carbon chain of three or more carbon atoms containing an OH-group attached to every carbon except one. The lone carbon atom is double-bonded to an oxygen atom, and this double-bond may be in any position along the carbon chain. Therefore, one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms are present for every carbon atom in a monosaccharide.

Disaccharides Dissacharides are sugars(carbohydrate molecules) that form when two monosaccharides are combined. Additionally, this reaction results in a glycosidic bond between the two monosaccharide molecules. This reaction also produces water (dihydrogenmonoxide) as a side product.

Polysaccharides Polysaccharides are molecules composed of long chains of monosaccharides. Being relatively large macromolecules(A very large molecule), polysaccharides are usually insoluble in water.