The Structure Of Carbohydrates

Eighteen percent of our body weight is made up of carbon. Carbon atoms make up important molecules in our bodies such as proteins, DNA, RNA, sugars, and fats. These molecules are called macromolecules. Carbon bonding to itself results in a wide variety of organic compounds, which means that organic compounds are carbon-based carbons. Most matter in living organisms that is not water is made of organic compounds. Nearly everything that is touched is organic. Four main classes of organic compounds that are needed for life are carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. Carbohydrates are the most abundant biomolecule on Earth. “Carbohydrates are used as accessible energy to fuel cellular reactions and for structural support inside cell

A dehydration synthesis reaction forms a bond between carbon atoms in two monosaccharides, sandwiching an oxygen atom between them and releasing a water molecule.” (https://dlc.dcccd.edu/biology1-3/carbohydrates). Carbohydrates are composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen in a ratio of one carbon atom to two hydrogen atoms to one oxygen atom. Carbohydrates exist as monosaccharides, disaccharides, and polysaccharides. A monosaccharide is a monomer of a carbohydrate. A monosaccharide is a single sugar that contains carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. When two monosaccharides join, they form a double sugar called a disaccharide. “This image shows disaccharides joined by a glycosidic bond. A glycosidic bond to the anomeric carbon can be either a or B. For example maltose, is the disaccharide gained by enzyme-catalyzed hydrolysis of starch, consists of two D-glucopyranose units joined by a 1,4’-a-glycoside bond. The “prime” indicates that C-4 is not the same ring as C-1. Unlike the other disaccharides, sucrose is not a reducing sugar and does not exhibit mutarotation because the glycosidic

Triglycerides contain three fatty acids and one molecule of glycerol. Saturated triglycerides are made up of saturated fatty acids. This means that they have high melting points and are hard at room temperature. This is because the molecules of a saturated fat are packed closely together. Examples of saturated triglycerides would be butter and fats in red meat. Unsaturated triglycerides are made up of unsaturated fatty acids, which means they are soft or liquid at room temperature. An example of an unsaturated fat would be olive oil because the molecules cannot pack together closely enough to solidify because of the kinks in some of their fatty acid hydrocarbon chains. A “kink” occurs in a double-bond of the fatty acid tail. “A double-bond occurs in an unsaturated fat has at least one carbon-carbon double or triple bond. A saturated fat on the other hand, only consists of carbon-carbon single bonds.” “Libretexts. "Lipids and Membranes." Biology LibreTexts. Libretexts, 20 Nov. 2013. Web. 16 Sept. 2017.” This image illustrates butter as a saturated fat and olive oil as a unsaturated fat. The fatty acid of the saturated fat has a space-filling model of stearic acid. The red represents the oxygen, black represents carbon, and the gray represents the hydrogen. The fatty acid of the unsaturated fat has a space-filling model of oleic acid. The cis double bond causes bending. (Cis means “on this side.” “In geometrical isomer nomenclature, the prefix