- Major source of energy in may organism
- Serve to store energy
- Structural components in some organisms
- Carbon ; Oxygen ; Hydrogen
A. Monosaccharides: 3-7 carbon and one aldehyde or ketone group
> Glucose (main sugar found in your blood)
> Fructose (As sweet as glucose and about 65% as sweet as Sucrose)
> Galactose ( know as "fruit sugar" it primarily occurs naturally in many fruits)
Glucose + Fructose = Sucrose ; Glucose + Glucose = Maltose ; Glucose + Galactose = Lactose
B. Disaccharides
C. Polysaccharides: hundreds or thousand units joined together.
- Also known as "Glycans"
- They contain thousand of glucose, so glucose is the main monosaccharides that comprise this 2 polysaccharides.
a. Starch (found in plants it's used to store energy)
- Amylose formed straight chains
- Amylopectin contains branch structures
b. Glycogen (a starch that is found in the animals)
- Glycogen is highly branched
c. Cellulose (found in cell wall of plants where it provides structure and support)
d. Chitin (forms exoskeleton if arthropods: insects, lobsters, etc)
e.Peptidoglycan (rigid envelope surrounding the cytoplasmic membrane of most bacterial species)
