What are Carbohydrates?

What are carbohydrates?

Carbohydrates are organic molecules that contain carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. They have a general formula of C_nH_2nO_n­

Carbohydrates are also known as sugars and they are important as a source of energy.

Carbohydrates can be classified into three groups, depending on the number of sugar present.

• Monosaccharide
• These are the simplest kinds of carbohydrate.
• Monosaccharide consists of a single sugar molecule
• Examples of monosaccharide:
• Glucose
• Fructose
• Disaccharide
• Disaccharides are composed of two sugar molecules that are joined by a glycosidic linkage.
• When two monosaccharide molecules join together, a water molecule is lost
• This is known as condensation reaction or dehydration reaction.
• Examples of disaccharides:
• Sucrose
• This is known as common table sugar
• Maltose
• Lactose
• Polysaccharide
• Polysaccharides are composed of a series of connected monosaccharides.
• Polysaccharides are polymers because it has repeating monosaccharide units
• Examples of polysaccharides:
• Starch
• The principal energy storage from the plant cells
• Glycogen
• The energy storage molecule for animal cells
• Cellulose
• The structural molecule of cell walls in plants
• Chitin

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