Jinsh

Chemical Constitution

Carbohydrates are, as their name implies, compounds of carbon and water, (C – H ₂O) _N, distinguished from one another by the number of units and the arrangement of elements in each molecule. The commonest mono-saccharine in plants and animal are hexodes, compounds containing six units (C – H ₂O)₆ or C₆ H₁₂ O_6.O f these glucose, fructose, and galactic, distinguished from one another by their molecular configuration, have the greatest physiologic significance. In plants these units are usually coupled together, with the loss of one molecule of water, to from disaccharides, with the general formula 2 (C₆ H₁₂ O₆) – H ₂O = C₁₂ H₂₂ O_11.

The commonest of these are maltose = 2 glucose; sucrose = glucose + fructose; and lactose = glucose + galactic. Glucose is also polymerized in the vegetable kingdom into starches and in animal tissues to glycogen, multiples of enormous magnitude with the general formula (C₆ H₁₀ O₅), one molecule of water being lost at each point of union between the molecules of glucose. Pentose, 5 – carbon monosaccharide, C₅ H₁₀ O₅ is found in nucleic acids in the body.