Senin, 14 November 2011

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates ('hydrates of carbon', carbohydrate) or saccharides (from the Greek σάκχαρον, sákcharon, meaning "sugar") is a majority of the most abundant organic compound on earth. Carbohydrates have different functions in the living body, especially as fuel (eg glucose), food storage (eg starch in plants and glycogen in animals), and builder materials (eg cellulose in plants, chitin in animals and fungi). [1] In the process of photosynthesis, green plants convert carbon dioxide into carbohydrates.

In biochemistry, carbohydrate is polihidroksil-aldehyde or-ketone polihidroksil, or compounds that produce these compounds when hydrolysed. Carbohydrate-containing carbonyl functional groups (as aldehyde or ketone) and many hydroxyl groups. Initially, the term carbohydrate is used for the compound having the formula (CH2O) n, ie the compounds of carbon atoms n looks hydrated by n water molecules. However, there are carbohydrates that have no such formula and some are containing nitrogen, phosphorus, or sulfur.

The simplest form of carbohydrate molecules made ​​up of single molecules of simple sugars called monosaccharides, such as glucose, galactose, and fructose. Many carbohydrates are polymers composed of sugar molecules that are strung into long chains and can also branching, called polysaccharides, eg starch, chitin, and cellulose. In addition to monosaccharides and polysaccharides, there are also disaccharides (set of two monosaccharides) and oligosaccharides (a series of several monosaccharides).

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