Difference between revisions of "Polymer"
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When only two sugars are linked, this is called a disaccharide. For example, common table sugar (sucrose) is a disaccharide of glucose and fructose.<br /> | When only two sugars are linked, this is called a disaccharide. For example, common table sugar (sucrose) is a disaccharide of glucose and fructose.<br /> | ||
Polysaccharides can be described in terms of which sugars they are made from, how adjacent sugars are oriented relative to one another and which of their carbon atoms take part in the link. Before we go into detail, remember that each sugar is made up of a chain of carbon atoms, one end of it (the so-called anomeric carbon) attached to an oxygen atom which is also attached elsewhere on the chain to form a ring-with-tail structure. Each of the carbon atoms then have hydrogen atoms or hydroxy-groups attached to its remaining bonds (one of each in most cases)<ref name=Smith>J.G. Smith - ''Organic chemistry'' Int'l ed. 2011. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-007-108186-3. pp. 1028-1029, 1056.</ref>.<br /> | Polysaccharides can be described in terms of which sugars they are made from, how adjacent sugars are oriented relative to one another and which of their carbon atoms take part in the link. Before we go into detail, remember that each sugar is made up of a chain of carbon atoms, one end of it (the so-called anomeric carbon) attached to an oxygen atom which is also attached elsewhere on the chain to form a ring-with-tail structure. Each of the carbon atoms then have hydrogen atoms or hydroxy-groups attached to its remaining bonds (one of each in most cases)<ref name=Smith>J.G. Smith - ''Organic chemistry'' Int'l ed. 2011. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-007-108186-3. pp. 1028-1029, 1056.</ref>.<br /> | ||
| − | In essence, a link is an alpha-link if the OH-group next to the oxygen in the ring (the one attached to the anomeric carbon) is on the opposite side of the ring's plane from the | + | In essence, a link is an alpha-link if the OH-group next to the oxygen in the ring (the one attached to the anomeric carbon) is on the opposite side of the ring's plane from the "tail" of the sugar, while it is a beta-link if on the same side<ref name=Wolfe>S.L. Wolfe - ''Molecular and cellular biology'' 1993. Wadsworth. ISBN 0-534-12408-9. p. 52.</ref>. (To do: I will add an illustration. It is difficult to understand otherwise.) The carbon atoms in a monosaccharide are numbered from 1 for the anomeric carbon and continuing along the chain, so cellulose can be denoted as a chain of glucose with <math>\beta ( 1 \rightarrow 4 )</math> links. All "glycosidic" links (the links that make up disaccharides and polysaccharides) connect an anomeric carbon of one monosaccharide to a different carbon of another or the same kind of monosaccharide<ref name=Smith/>. |
==References== | ==References== | ||
<references /> | <references /> | ||
[[Category:Chemistry]] | [[Category:Chemistry]] | ||
Revision as of 10:52, 3 June 2013
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A polymer is a kind of complex molecule. Each polymer is made up of one or more simple molecules which are linked into a complex, possibly repeating structure. It may linear or branched.
Polysaccharides
Polysaccharides polymers of sugars. For example, cellulose is a common polymer in plants (often just called "fibre" by the food industry). Plants create cellulose by reacting glucose molecules with one another to link them into a long chain.
When only two sugars are linked, this is called a disaccharide. For example, common table sugar (sucrose) is a disaccharide of glucose and fructose.
Polysaccharides can be described in terms of which sugars they are made from, how adjacent sugars are oriented relative to one another and which of their carbon atoms take part in the link. Before we go into detail, remember that each sugar is made up of a chain of carbon atoms, one end of it (the so-called anomeric carbon) attached to an oxygen atom which is also attached elsewhere on the chain to form a ring-with-tail structure. Each of the carbon atoms then have hydrogen atoms or hydroxy-groups attached to its remaining bonds (one of each in most cases)[1].
In essence, a link is an alpha-link if the OH-group next to the oxygen in the ring (the one attached to the anomeric carbon) is on the opposite side of the ring's plane from the "tail" of the sugar, while it is a beta-link if on the same side[2]. (To do: I will add an illustration. It is difficult to understand otherwise.) The carbon atoms in a monosaccharide are numbered from 1 for the anomeric carbon and continuing along the chain, so cellulose can be denoted as a chain of glucose with links. All "glycosidic" links (the links that make up disaccharides and polysaccharides) connect an anomeric carbon of one monosaccharide to a different carbon of another or the same kind of monosaccharide[1].
