FORMATION

STRUCTURE
AND
PROPERTIES OF
POLYMERS OF
CARBON
What is Carbohydrates?
- Carbohydrates, or carbs, are sugar molecules. Along
with proteins and fats, carbohydrates are one of three main
nutrients found in foods and drinks. Your body breaks
down carbohydrates into glucose. Glucose, or blood sugar,
is the main source of energy for your body's cells, tissues,
and organs.
-Carbohydrates can be represented by the
stoichiometric formula (CH2O)n, where n is the
number of carbons in the molecule. In other
words, the ratio of carbon to hydrogen to oxygen
is 1:2:1 in carbohydrate molecules. This formula
also explains the origin of the term
“carbohydrate”: the components are carbon
(“carbo”) and the components of water (hence,
“hydrate”). Carbohydrates are classified into three
subtypes: monosaccharides, disaccharides, and
polysaccharides.
STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS
Monosaccharides
Monosaccharides (mono– = “one”; sacchar– = “sweet”) are simple sugars, the most
common of which is glucose. In monosaccharides, the number of carbons usually
ranges from three to seven. Most monosaccharide names end with the suffix –ose. If
the sugar has an aldehyde group (the functional group with the structure R-CHO), it is
known as an aldose, and if it has a ketone group (the functional group with the structure
RC(=O)R′), it is known as a ketose. Depending on the number of carbons in the sugar,
they also may be known as trioses (three carbons), pentoses (five carbons), and or
hexoses (six carbons).
The chemical formula for glucose is C6H12O6. In humans, glucose is
an important source of energy. During cellular respiration, energy is
released from glucose, and that energy is used to help make adenosine
triphosphate (ATP). Plants synthesize glucose using carbon dioxide
and water, and glucose in turn is used for energy requirements for the
plant. Excess glucose is often stored as starch that is catabolized (the
breakdown of larger molecules by cells) by humans and other animals
that feed on plants.
Galactose and fructose are other common monosaccharides — galactose is found in milk
sugars and fructose is found in fruit sugars. Although glucose, galactose, and fructose all
have the same chemical formula (C6H12O6), they differ structurally and chemically (and
are known as isomers) because of the different arrangement of functional groups around the
asymmetric carbon; all of these monosaccharides have more than one asymmetric carbon

Monosaccharides can exist as a linear chain or as ring-shaped molecules; in aqueous

solutions they are usually found in ring forms (Figure 3). Glucose in a ring form can have
two different arrangements of the hydroxyl group (−OH) around the anomeric carbon
(carbon 1 that becomes asymmetric in the process of ring formation). If the hydroxyl group
is below carbon number 1 in the sugar, it is said to be in the alpha (α) position, and if it is
above the plane, it is said to be in the beta (β) position
Polymers of carbohydrates, also known as polysaccharides, are formed by the
linkage of multiple carbohydrate monomers. The most common types of
carbohydrate polymers include cellulose, starch, and glycogen.

Cellulose is a linear polymer made up of repeating units of glucose. It is the main

component of plant cell walls and is the most abundant organic polymer on Earth.
Cellulose is a strong, insoluble, and rigid material.

Starch is a linear polymer made up of repeating units of glucose. It is found in

plants and serves as a storage form of energy. It is a branched polymer, meaning
the glucose molecules are joined in a branching pattern. Starch is a water-soluble,
flexible material.
Starch is a linear polymer made up of repeating units of glucose. It is
found in plants and serves as a storage form of energy. It is a branched
polymer, meaning the glucose molecules are joined in a branching
pattern. Starch is a water-soluble, flexible material

Glycogen is a branched polymer made up of repeating units of

glucose. It is the storage form of glucose in animals and is found in
liver and muscle cells. It is a water-soluble, flexible material.
Sample 1 Sample 2
Sample 3 Sample 4
Sample 5
All three polysaccharides are formed by the
process of dehydration synthesis, in which
water molecules are removed to form chemical
bonds between monomers.
Disaccharides
Disaccharides (di– = “two”) form when two monosaccharides undergo a dehydration
reaction (also known as a condensation reaction or dehydration synthesis). During this
process, the hydroxyl group of one monosaccharide combines with the hydrogen of
another monosaccharide, releasing a molecule of water and forming a covalent bond. A
covalent bond formed between a carbohydrate molecule and another molecule (in this
case, between two monosaccharides) is known as a glycosidic bond. Glycosidic bonds
(also called glycosidic linkages) can be of the alpha or the beta type. An alpha bond is
formed when the OH group on the carbon-1 of the first glucose is below the ring plane,
and a beta bond is formed when the OH group on the carbon-1 is above the ring plane.
Common disaccharides include lactose, maltose, and
sucrose. Lactose is a disaccharide consisting of the
monomers glucose and galactose. It is found naturally in
milk. Maltose, or malt sugar, is a disaccharide formed by a
dehydration reaction between two glucose molecules. The
most common disaccharide is sucrose, or table sugar, which
is composed of the monomers glucose and fructose.
Polysaccharides
A long chain of monosaccharides linked by glycosidic bonds is known as a
polysaccharide (poly– = “many”). The chain may be branched or
unbranched, and it may contain different types of monosaccharides. The
molecular weight may be 100,000 daltons or more depending on the
number of monomers joined. Starch, glycogen, cellulose, and chitin are
primary examples of polysaccharides. Starch is the stored form of sugars in
plants and is made up of a mixture of amylose and amylopectin (both
polymers of glucose)
Glycogen is the storage form of glucose in humans and
other vertebrates and is made up of monomers of glucose.
Glycogen is the animal equivalent of starch and is a highly
branched molecule usually stored in liver and muscle cells.
Whenever blood glucose levels decrease, glycogen is
broken down to release glucose in a process known as
glycogenolysis.
Cellulose
is the most abundant natural biopolymer. The cell
wall of plants is mostly made of cellulose; this
provides structural support to the cell. Wood and
paper are mostly cellulosic in nature. Cellulose is
made up of glucose monomers that are linked by
β 1-4 glycosidic bonds.
Physical Properties of Carbon:
Carbon is a unique element. It occurs in many forms. Some examples of the pure
form of carbon are coal and soot. It is soft and dull grey or black in colour.

One of the most important compounds of carbon is charcoal, which is formed

when carbon is heated in the absence of air.

It occurs in a number of allotropic forms. Allotropes are nothing but forms of an

element with varying physical as well as chemical properties.

The density of the different forms of carbon depends upon the origin of these
elements. You will find some forms of carbon which are pure and some forms
which are not pure like coal which is the mixture of both carbon and hydrogen.
Chemical Properties of Carbon
Carbon compounds generally show 4 reactions, they are

Combustion reaction
Oxidation reaction
Addition reactions
Substitution reaction.

As we all know that carbon in all forms needs oxygen, heat, and
light and forms carbon dioxide. When it is burned in the air to give
carbon dioxide, it is called as combustion.