Jump to content

Monosaccharide

From Tilcayo Cats, the lean encyclopaedia by Tilcayo Knowledge Systems

A monosaccharide is a simple sugar, the simplest kind of carbohydrate. The name comes from mono-, meaning "one", and sacchar-, meaning "sweet". The most common monosaccharide is glucose.[1] Monosaccharides are the building blocks from which larger, more complex carbohydrates are made.[2]

Structure

A monosaccharide molecule usually contains between three and seven carbon atoms.[3] Chemists group them by this number, using a prefix for the number of carbons and the ending -ose for a sugar: a triose has three carbons, a tetrose four, a pentose five and a hexose six.[4]

Monosaccharides are also sorted by the type of chemical group they contain. A sugar with an aldehyde group is called an aldose, and a sugar with a ketone group is called a ketose.[5]

Monosaccharides can take the form of a straight chain or a ring. When they are dissolved in water, they are usually found as rings.[6]

Common examples

Glucose is the most abundant monosaccharide in nature.[7] Two other very common six-carbon sugars are galactose, which is used to make lactose, the sugar in milk, and fructose, the sugar found in fruit.[8] Glucose and galactose are aldoses, while fructose is a ketose.[9] All three have the same chemical formula, C6H12O6, but their atoms are arranged differently, which makes them isomers.[10]

Role in living things

Glucose is an important source of energy. During cellular respiration, energy is released from glucose and is used to make adenosine triphosphate (ATP).[11]

References

  1. ↑ Clark, Mary Ann; Douglas, Matthew; Choi, Jung (2018). "3.2 Carbohydrates". Biology 2e. OpenStax, Rice University. Retrieved 20 October 2026. Monosaccharides (mono- = "one"; sacchar- = "sweet") are simple sugars, the most common of which is glucose.
  2. ↑ Farmer, Steven; Kennepohl, Dietmar. "25.1: Classification of Carbohydrates". Organic Chemistry III (Morsch et al.). Chemistry LibreTexts. Retrieved 20 October 2026. The simplest carbohydrates are called monosaccharides, or simple sugars. They are the building blocks (monomers) for the synthesis of polymers or complex carbohydrates
  3. ↑ Clark, Mary Ann; Douglas, Matthew; Choi, Jung (2018). "3.2 Carbohydrates". Biology 2e. OpenStax, Rice University. Retrieved 20 October 2026. In monosaccharides, the number of carbons usually ranges from three to seven.
  4. ↑ Farmer, Steven; Kennepohl, Dietmar. "25.1: Classification of Carbohydrates". Organic Chemistry III (Morsch et al.). Chemistry LibreTexts. Retrieved 20 October 2026. General categories are identified using a prefix that indicates the number of carbons and the suffix –ose, which indicates a saccharide; for example, triose (three carbons), tetrose (four carbons), pentose (five carbons), and hexose (six carbons)
  5. ↑ Clark, Mary Ann; Douglas, Matthew; Choi, Jung (2018). "3.2 Carbohydrates". Biology 2e. OpenStax, Rice University. Retrieved 20 October 2026. If the sugar has an aldehyde group (the functional group with the structure R-CHO), it is an aldose, and if it has a ketone group (the functional group with the structure RC(=O)R'), it is a ketose.
  6. ↑ Clark, Mary Ann; Douglas, Matthew; Choi, Jung (2018). "3.2 Carbohydrates". Biology 2e. OpenStax, Rice University. Retrieved 20 October 2026. Monosaccharides can exist as a linear chain or as ring-shaped molecules. In aqueous solutions they are usually in ring forms
  7. ↑ Farmer, Steven; Kennepohl, Dietmar. "25.1: Classification of Carbohydrates". Organic Chemistry III (Morsch et al.). Chemistry LibreTexts. Retrieved 20 October 2026. The hexose D-glucose is the most abundant monosaccharide in nature.
  8. ↑ Farmer, Steven; Kennepohl, Dietmar. "25.1: Classification of Carbohydrates". Organic Chemistry III (Morsch et al.). Chemistry LibreTexts. Retrieved 20 October 2026. Other very common and abundant hexose monosaccharides are galactose, used to make the disaccharide milk sugar lactose, and the fruit sugar fructose.
  9. ↑ Clark, Mary Ann; Douglas, Matthew; Choi, Jung (2018). "3.2 Carbohydrates". Biology 2e. OpenStax, Rice University. Retrieved 20 October 2026. Glucose and galactose are aldoses, and fructose is a ketose.
  10. ↑ Clark, Mary Ann; Douglas, Matthew; Choi, Jung (2018). "3.2 Carbohydrates". Biology 2e. OpenStax, Rice University. Retrieved 20 October 2026. They are structural isomers, meaning they have the same chemical formula (C6H12O6) but a different atom arrangement.
  11. ↑ Clark, Mary Ann; Douglas, Matthew; Choi, Jung (2018). "3.2 Carbohydrates". Biology 2e. OpenStax, Rice University. Retrieved 20 October 2026. During cellular respiration, energy releases from glucose, and that energy helps make adenosine triphosphate (ATP).
Retrieved from "https://tilcayo.cat/w/index.php?title=Monosaccharide&oldid=162997"