Biochemistry 3380G Lecture Notes - Anomer, Cyclohexane Conformation, Glycolipid
6 Dec 2012
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Document Summary
The four main building blocks of the cell are: sugars, fatty acids, amino acids, and nucleotides. Their larger polymers are respectively: polysaccharides, fats, lipids and membranes, proteins, and nucleic acids. The group that encompasses monosaccharides and polysaccharides is referred to as carbohydrates. The general formula for all monosaccharides is (ch2o)n. they are always single sugar unit molecules and range in n values from 3 to 7. notable examples of monosaccharides include glyceraldehyde (triose), ribose (pentose) and glucose (hexose) sugars. Monosaccharides are often represented by fischer projections, whereby sugar molecules with the same number carbons (same formula) are arranged in a different stereochemistry (as enantiomers). They (the d and l sugars) are chiral molecules due to the different spatial arrangements of atoms. L sugars can alter the direction of plane-polarized light as well. Most biological monosaccharides are in the d orientation at the highest numbered chiral carbon.
