A carbohydrate is an organic compound made up of one or more sugar molecules.
The name of carbohydrate was applied originally to a group of compounds containing C, H and O that gave an analysis of (CH2O)n, i.e. compounds in which n carbon atoms appeared to be hydrated with n water molecules.
A carbohydrate consisting of a single sugar molecule is called a monosaccharide. A carbohydrate made of two molecules is a disaccharide.
Monosaccharide is the smaller compounds, containing three to nine carbon atoms. Monosaccharides are naturally present as simple sugars in fruits, milk and other foods.
It is a single sugar molecules that are made up of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms in the ration of 1:2:1.
Monosaccharides are used as building blocks to produce oligosaccharides, which contain from 2 to 10 monosaccharide residues and polysaccharides which contain more than 10 monosaccharide residues.
The most common monosaccharides in the human diet are: glucose, fructose and galactose. Although glucose, fructose and galactose have the same molecular formula (C6H12O6) each has a different arrangement of atoms.
Monosaccharide glucose is the most abundant simple carbohydrate unit in nature. Glucose gives food a mildly sweet flavor.
Monosaccharides are described either as aldoses or ketoses, depending on whether the molecule contains an aldehyde (aldoses) function or a ketone group.
Monosaccharide - building blocks of carbohydrates
