Introduction to Carbohydrates

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Atif Amin Baig ,

Faculty of Medical Sciences,
University Sultan Zainal Abidin.
atifamin@unisza.edu.my
• Basic definitions of acid and base?
• Water as an acid or base?
• What is a pH and its biological/clinical importance?
• What is homeostasis and how is it related to pH?
• Role of pH homeostasis in cell maintenance and its
surroundings?
• Role of Diffusion and Osmosis in maintaining
Homeostasis?
• Concept of Buffers and Buffer systems in human body?

Recall
• What are carbohydrates?
• Structure of carbohydrates?
• Classification of carbohydrates?
• Chemical Characteristics of carbohydrates
• Glycosidic Bonding
• Animal and Plant carbohydrates

Learning Outcomes
• Hydrates of Carbons
• Carbon + H2O
• C6H12O6  C(H2O)n

The carbohydrates are group of naturally occurring

carbonyl compound (aldehydes or ketones)

What are Carbohydrates?

• Based on Hydrolysis
• Based on Sacchar units
• Based on isomerism
• Based on chemical nature of the carbonyl function into
aldoses and ketoses.

Classification of CHO
1. Monosaccharaides (1 sacchar unit)
2. Oligosaccharides (2 to10 sacchar units)
3. Polysaccharides (more than 10 sacchar units)

Based on Hydrolysis and

Number of Sacchar Units
• Completely dissolved in water
• Completely Soluble in water
• Very sweet
• Low molecular weight

• eg: Glucose, fructose, glactose

Monosaccharides
• Triose
• Tetrose
• Pentose
• Hexose

• Examples?

Monosaccharides
• Slightly dissolved in water
• Less Soluble in water than monosaccharides
• Less sweet than monosaccharides
• Higher molecular weight than monosaccharides

• eg: Lactose (glucose + glactose), Sucrose (glucose + Fructose)

• Enzymatic hydrolysis of sucrose-containing flower nectar in the

digestive tract of bees— catalyzed by the enzyme invertase—
produces honey, a mixture of glucose and fructose.

Disaccharides
• Not dissolved in water
• Not Soluble in water than monosaccharides
• Not sweet
• Higher molecular weight
• eg: Starch, Amylopectin, Glycogen, Cellulose.
• Polysaccharides are ubiquitous in nature.
• Three types: Structural Polysaccharides, Water binding
polysaccharides and Reserve Polysaccharides.

• Homoglycans and Polyglycans

• Derived compounds (glycosamines)

Polysaccharides
• Structural Polysaccharides:
• Provide mechanical stability to cells, organs, and organisms.

• eg: Cellulose and chitin

Polysaccharides
• Water binding Polysaccharides:
• They are strongly hydrated and prevent cells and tissues
from drying out.

• eg: D-glacturonic acid in pectins

Polysaccharides
• Reserve Polysaccharides:

• starches in plants
• Inulin: a fructose polymer, is used as a starch substitute
in diabetics’ dietary products.
• Glycogen, the reserve carbohydrate of higher animals, is
stored in the liver and mus- culature in particular

Polysaccharides
Homoglycans and Polyglycans – Polysaccharides
• Two glucose polymers of plant origin are of special
importance among the polysac- charides:

1. β 1􏰅 ,4-linked polymer cellulose and

2. starch, which is mostly α1􏰅 ,4-linked.

Plant Polysaccharides
1. Based on optical isomerism  L and D forms
2. Based on epimers

Difference?
Examples?

Based on isomerism
 Based on Based on chemical
nature of the carbonyl function
into aldoses and ketoses.
• Mutarotation is a term given to the change in the observed
optical rotation of a substance with time.

• Glucose, for example, can be obtained in either its a or b-

pyranose form. The two forms have different physical
properties such as melting point and optical rotation.

• When either form is dissolved in water, its initial rotation

changes with time. Eventually both solutions have the same
rotation.

Mutarotation
 H H
HOCH2 H HOCH2 H
HO O HO O
HO OH HO H
1 1
H OH H OH
H H H OH
b-D-Glucopyranose a-D-Glucopyranose
Initial: [a]D +18.7° Initial: [a]D +112.2°

Mutarotation of D-Glucose
 H H
HOCH2 H HOCH2 H
HO O HO O
HO OH HO H
1 1
H OH H OH
H H H OH
b-D-Glucopyranose (64%) a-D-Glucopyranose (36%)
Initial: [a]D +18.7° Initial: [a]D +112.2°

Final: [a]D +52.5°

Mutarotation of D-Glucosee
 When the anome- ric OH
group of a sugar reacts with
an alcohol, with elimination
of water, it yields an O–
glycoside

Glycoside formation
(Glycosidic Bonds)
More examples?
Reduction
and oxidation
 Epimers are related
by the inversion of
configuration at a
single chiral center

Epimerization
• The hydroxyl groups of monosaccharides can form esters
with acids.
• In metabolism, phosphoric acid esters such as glucose 6-
phosphate and glucose 1-phosphate are particularly
important.

Esterification.
• Most important is Glucose
• Energy and carbohydrates?
• Structural and functional importance?

Human carbohydrates
Thank you