Special Sub-Topic: Carbohydrates Click Here To Play: Carbohydrates

Most carbohydrates are a kind of what?

Sugar. Carbohydrates are called saccharides which is similar to the Greek for sugar.

Which of the following isn't a group of carbohydrate?

Glycosaccharides. Monosaccharides have one sugar molecule, oligosaccharides have between two and ten sugar molecules and polysaccharides have more than ten sugar molecules joined together.

What is the general formula for carbohydrates?

(CH2O)n. This formula only works when n is a number greater than three.

The two optical isomers of a carbohydrate are called the D and L forms.

true. Optical isomers are two molecules that have the same structure but the atoms are arranged differently.

Monosaccharides can't be broken down into smaller carbohydrates.

true. Monosaccharides are the smallest form of carbohydrate around.

Carbohydrates do not have a chiral carbon.

false. A chiral carbon is a carbon atom in a molecule that has 4 different functional groups bonded to it. This allows it to form optical isomers. It also does not have a symmetrical carbon atom.

Epimers are sugars that what?

Differ in configuration at one carbon atom. An example of epimers are glucose and maltose as they differ at the second carbon.

There are hundreds of different monosaccharides in nature.

true. Most of these are in the D configuration.

A function of monosaccharides is nutrition.

true. They are also needed for biological cell recognition.

Polysaccharides are long chained molecules that only occur in the linear form.

false. They can also be branched chains.