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Wednesday 11 May 2011

Monosaccharides

Monosaccharides are the simplest carbohydrates in that they cannot be hydrolyzed to smaller carbohydrates. They are aldehydes or ketones with two or more hydroxyl groups.Sugars are small molecules which belong to the class of carbohydrates. As the name implies, a carbohydrate is a molecule whose molecular formula can be expressed in terms of just carbon and water. For example, glucose has the formula C6(H2O)6 and sucrose (table sugar) has the formula C6(H2O)11.
PROPERTIES OF MONOSACCHARIDES:
These are crystalline compounds, 
sweet to taste, 
and needs digestion in order to be absorbed into the blood stream. They may contain either five carbons (pentose)
or six carbons (hexose).
are highly soluble compounds in polar solvents (as water) due to the presence of abundant hydroxyl groups in those molecules.
EXAMPLES:
Glucose, Fructose, and Galactose are all examples of monosaccharides.




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