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Classification of Carbohydrates definitions

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  • Carbohydrates
    Organic molecules classified into four main groups based on the number of sugar units they contain.
  • Monosaccharides
    Simplest carbohydrate units, unable to be broken down further, often represented by a single hexagon ring.
  • Disaccharides
    Carbohydrate molecules composed of two monosaccharide units linked by a specific bond.
  • Oligosaccharides
    Carbohydrate chains containing three to ten monosaccharide units, exemplified by raffinose.
  • Polysaccharides
    Large carbohydrate molecules with more than ten monosaccharide units, often exhibiting branching.
  • Glucose
    A common monosaccharide, often depicted as a hexagon, serving as a primary energy source.
  • Fructose
    A monosaccharide found in fruits, structurally similar to glucose but with distinct properties.
  • Sucrose
    A disaccharide formed from two monosaccharides, commonly known as table sugar.
  • Lactose
    A disaccharide present in milk, consisting of two monosaccharide units.
  • Raffinose
    An oligosaccharide composed of three monosaccharide units, serving as an example of its class.
  • Starch
    A polysaccharide made of numerous glucose units, serving as a major energy storage in plants.
  • Glycogen
    A highly branched polysaccharide, functioning as the main storage form of glucose in animals.
  • Cellulose
    A structural polysaccharide in plants, composed of long chains of glucose units.
  • Hexagon Ring
    A common structural representation for the cyclic forms of carbohydrate molecules.
  • Branching
    A structural feature in polysaccharides where additional connections extend from various points on the main chain.