Carbs Review Lesson

Carbs Review Lesson

by Chris Tindle

​Carbohydrates

​Carbohydrates, shortened to Carbs, are these wonderful little macromolecules that are made up of

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​Carbon

​Hydrogen

​Oxygen

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​Derived from the name itself: Carbo = Carbon and Hydrate = Oxygen and Hydrogen. Specifically the name refers to the ratio in which you can find these elements in Carbs. That ratio being a 1:2:1 ratio.

The Carb Building Blocks

​As with any macromolecule, there are monomers that act as building blocks for more complex forms.

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​For carbs the monomer is known as monosaccharides = one sugar

Disaccharides = two sugars

​Polysaccharides = many sugars

​Different Monomer Shapes

​While there are multiple different types of sugar molecules, the ones we focus on are the ones that naturally occur in nature, those being the:

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​Hexose sugars (referring to the 6 ring carbon structure)

​Pentose sugars (referring to the 5 ring carbon structure)

Multiple Select

What three chemical elements are common in ALL carbohydrates?

Multiple Answers expected here

• Oxygen

• Hydrogen

• Carbon

• Nitrogen

• Sulfur

Open Ended

What two carbohydrates most often occur in nature according to the notes and the presentation?

Carbohydrate Bonding

​Carbohydrates bond together by a chemical reaction process called

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​Dehydration Reactions which involves the loss of water from a reacting molecule.

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This loss of water results in a bond forming between two or more carbs to form what we know as a

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​Glycosidic Linkage/Bond which is shown in the picture to the right.

Multiple Choice

What is the name of the bond that occurs when linking together two or more sugar molecules? Again I'm looking for the NAME OF THE BOND. 

• Dehydration Reaction

• Peptide Bonds

• Phosphodiester Bonds

• Glycosidic Linkage/Bond

• Ester Bonds

​The various functions of Carbs

​Carbs are a very important part of animal and plant diets due to the large number of functions they serve. For example carbs are involved in:

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​Energy Production: by using glucose as an energy source

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​Energy Storage: by using glycogen or starches to store excess energy

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​Structural Components: by binding in long polysaccharide chains carbs like cellulose can make up the cell walls of plant cells. Another example is chitin, found in insects, crabs and other marine life, even in the cell walls of fungi.

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​In addition to this, they also serve a variety of other functions but I wanted to pay particular attention to these functions

Open Ended

What are the three functions of carbs we just went over?