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CARBOHYDRATES & NUCLEIC ACID MOLECULES

What are Carbohydrates?

Overview

  • Carbohydrates are made up of Hydrogen, Carbon, and Oxygen

    • Their general formulas are Cn(H2O)n​ (the variable "n" is the same number) 

    • Based on this formula we can see that there is a 1:2:1 ratio of Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen molecules

      • example: Glucose has a formula of C6(H6O)6 ​(looking at this formula we can see that there are 6 Carbon, 12 Hydrogen and 6 Oxygen molecules in Glucose)

  • Carbohydrates are an important source of energy for all cells 

  • They help transport and store energy in cells and also provide structural support in the body

  • Carbohydrates are found in foods rich in fibre, starch and sugar. (ie. fruits, bread and milk products)

carbohydrates1.jpg

Monosaccharides

  • Monomers of carbohydrates

    • ONE SUGAR MOLECULE

  • Simple sugars with 1 molecule (ends with prefix -ose)​

    • Eg. Glucose, Fructose, Ribose, Pentose, Hexose, etc.​

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Disaccharides

  • Formed by dehydration synthesis​

    • 2 SUGAR MOLECULES JOINED TOGETHER​

  • Dissolve in water (polar molecules)​

    • Eg. Sucrose (glucose+fructose),  Lactose (galactose+glucose)​,  Maltose (glucose+glucose)  

***MUST KNOW WHAT MONOSACCHARIDES FORM THE FOLLOW DISACCHARIDES***

Polysaccarides

1. STARCH

  • Storage form of energy in PLANTS!

  • Most common carbohydrate in human diets (found in rice, wheat, potatoes)

  • HAS A LINEAR STRUCTURE WITH FEW SIDE BRANCHES!
     

NUCLEIC ACID

Overview

  • Function to store and transport genetic information needed for ALL cell activities

  • Found in animal and plant based foods like fruits, vegetables, meat products, etc.

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BASES:​

Purines: 

  • Have two ringed structures

  • Eg. Adenine & Guanine

Pyrimidines: 

  • Have a single ringed structure 

  • Eg. Cytosine, Thymine & Uracil (found only in RNA)

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