Carbohydrates

Common Carbohydrates
Derivation of name and Source
Monosaccharides

Name
Glucose

From Greek word for sweet wine; grape sugar, blood sugar, dextrose.

Galactose

Greek word for milk--"galact", found as a component of lactose in milk.

Fructose

Latin word for fruit--"fructus", also known as levulose,

found in fruits and honey; sweetest sugar.
Ribose and Deoxyribose are found in the backbone structure of RNA and DNA,
respectively.
Disaccharides - contain two monosaccharides

Ribose

Sucrose

French word for sugar--"sucre", a disaccharide containing glucose and fructose; table
sugar, cane sugar, beet sugar.

Lactose

Latin word for milk--"lact"; a disaccharide found in milk containing glucose and
galactose.

Maltose

French word for "malt"; a disaccharide containing two units of glucose; found in
germinating grains, used to make beer.
Common Polysaccharides
Source

Name
Starch

Plants store glucose as the polysaccharide starch. The cereal grains (wheat, rice, corn,
oats, barley) as well as tubers such as potatoes are rich in starch.

Cellulose

The major component in the rigid cell walls in plants is cellulose and is a linear
polysaccharide polymer with many glucose monosaccharide units.

Glycogen

This is the storage form of glucose in animals and humans which is analogous to the
starch in plants. Glycogen is synthesized and stored mainly in the liver and the muscles.

QualitativeTest for Carbohydrates

Sample

Glucose
Fructose
Ribose
Lactose
Sucrose
Starch

Molisch

Iodine

Benedict

Barfoed

(deep
purple)

(blue
black
complex
)
+

(brick
red)

(rust
colored)

+
+
+
+
+
+

+
+
+
+
-

+
+
+
-

Seliwano
f
(red)

2,4-DNP

+
+
-

+
-

(yellow
black
crystals)

Molisch's Test is a chemical test for the presence of carbohydrates, based on the dehydration of the carbohydrate by
sulfuric acid to produce an aldehyde.
The test solution is combined with a small amount of Molisch's reagent (-naphthol dissolved in ethanol) in a test tube.
After mixing, a small amount of concentrated sulfuric acid is slowly added down the sides of the sloping test-tube, without
mixing. A positive reaction is indicated by a purple ring forming at the interface between the acid and test layers.

All carbohydrates -- monosaccharides, disaccharides, and polysaccharides -- should give a positive reaction.
Glycoproteins also give a positive reaction. Pentoses are dehydrated to furfural; hexoses are dehydrated to
hydroxymethylfurfural. Either of these aldehydes, if present, will condense with two molecules of naphthol to form a
purple-colored product.all carbohydrate give positive molish test >O 2 (furfural) + Reactions:
1. C5H10O5 (pentose) + (conc.) H2SO4 C5H4O2 + 3 H2O
2. C5H4 + 2 C10H8OH (-naphthol) colored product

Benedict's reagent (also called Benedict's solution or Benedict's test) is a chemical reagent named after an American
chemist, Stanley Rossiter Benedict.
Benedict's reagent is used as a test for the presence of all monosaccharides, and generally also reducing sugars. These
include glucose, galactose, mannose, lactose and maltose. Even more generally, Benedict's test will detect the presence
of aldehydes (except aromatic ones), and alpha-hydroxy-ketones, including those that occur in certain ketoses. Thus,
although the ketose fructose is not strictly a reducing sugar, it is an alpha-hydroxy-ketone, and gives a positive test
because it is converted to the aldoses glucose and mannose by the base in the reagent.
Benedict's reagent contains blue copper(II) ions (Cu 2+) which are reduced to copper(I) (Cu+). These are precipitated as red
copper(I) oxide which is insoluble in water. The mixture is heated, and any precipitate formed is recorded as a positive
result for the presence of reducing sugars.
The common disacharrides lactose and maltose are directly detected by Benedict's reagent, because each contains a
glucose with a free reducing aldehyde moiety, after isomerization.
Sucrose (table sugar) contains two sugars (fructose and glucose) joined with by their glycosidic bond in such a way as to
prevent the glucose isomerizing to aldehyde, or the fructose to alpha-hydroxy-ketone form. Sucrose is thus a nonreducing sugar which does not react with Benedict's reagent. Sucrose indirectly produces a positive result with Benedict's
reagent if heated with dilute hydrochloric acid prior to the test, although after this treatment it is no longer sucrose. The
acidic conditions and heat break the glycosidic bond in sucrose through hydrolysis. The products of sucrose
decomposition are glucose and fructose, both of which can be detected by Benedict's reagent, as described above.
Starches do not react or react very poorly with Benedict's reagent, due to the relatively small number of reducing sugar
moieties, which occur only at the ends of carbohydrate chains. Inositol (myo-inositol) is another carbohydrate which
produces a negative test.

R-CHO + 2 Cu2+ + 5 OH- R-COO- + Cu2O (s, red) + 3 H2O

Reducing
Saccharide

carboxylic
acid

Barfoed's Test is a chemical test used for detecting the presence of monosaccharides. It is based on the reduction of
copper(II) acetate to copper(I) oxide (Cu2O), which forms a brick-red precipitate. (Disaccharides may also react, but the
reaction is much slower.) The aldehyde group of the monosaccharide which normally forms a cyclic hemiacetal is oxidized
to the carboxylate. A number of other substances, including sodium chloride, may interfere.

R-CHO + 2 Cu2+ + 2 H2O R-COOH + Cu2O (s,

red) + 4 H+
Reducing
Saccharide

carboxylic
acid

Seliwanoffs test is utilized to differentiate between aldose and ketose sugars. The reagents consist of resorcinol and
conc. HCl, acid hydrolysis of polysaccharides and oligosaccharides thus yielding simpler sugars. A ketose is present if the
mixture turns red. Ketoses are distinguished from aldoses via their ketone/aldehyde functionality. If the sugar contains a
ketone group, it is a ketose and if it contains an aldehyde group, it is an aldose. When heated, ketoses are more rapidly

dehydrated than aldoses. The dehydrated ketose then reacts with the resorcinol to produce a deep cherry red color.
Aldoses may react slightly to produce a faint pink color. Fructose and sucrose are two common sugars which give a
positive test. Sucrose, a disaccharide consisting of fructose and glucose, also gives a positive test. This is due to the
presence of concentrated HCl, which hydrolyses sucrose into its monosaccharide subunits. Thus fructose, being a keto
sugar, give positive Seliwanoff's test.

Lipids
Lecithin is any of a group of yellow-brownish fatty substances occurring in animal and plant tissues, and in egg yolk,
composed of phosphoric acid, choline, fatty acids, glycerol, glycolipids, triglycerides, and phospholipids (e.g.,
phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, and phosphatidylinositol). However, lecithin is sometimes used as a
synonym for pure phosphatidylcholine, a phospholipid that is the major component of its phosphatide fraction. It may be
isolated either from egg yolk (in Greek lekithos) or from soy beans, from which it is extracted chemically (using
hexane) or mechanically.
It has low solubility in water. In aqueous solution its phospholipids can form either liposomes, bilayer sheets, micelles, or
lamellar structures, depending on hydration and temperature. This results in a type of surfactant that is usually classified
as amphoteric.
Lecithin is sold as a food supplement and for medical.
Coconut Oill is a fat consisting of about 90% saturated fat. The oil contains predominantly medium chain triglycerides,
with roughly 92% saturated fatty acids, 6% monounsaturated fatty acids, and 2% polyunsaturated fatty acids. Of the
saturated fatty acids, coconut oil is primarily 44.6% lauric acid, 16.8% myristic acid a 8.2% palmitic acid and 8% caprylic
acid, although it contains seven different saturated fatty acids in total. Its only monounsaturated fatty acid is oleic acid
while its only polyunsaturated fatty acid is linoleic acid.
Unrefined coconut oil melts at 24-25C (76F) and smokes at 170C (350F), while refined coconut oil has a higher smoke
point of 232C (450F).
Among the most stable of all oils, coconut oil is slow to oxidize and thus resistant to rancidity, lasting up to two years due
to its high saturated fat content. In order to extend shelf life, it is best stored in solid form (i.e. below 24.5C [76F]).
Egg yolk
The yolk makes up about 33% of the liquid weight of the egg; it contains approximately 60 calories, three times the caloric
content of the egg white.
The composition (by weight) of the most prevalent fatty acids in egg yolk is typically as follows:

Unsaturated fatty acids:

o Oleic acid 47 %
o

Linoleic acid 16 %

Palmitoleic acid 5 %

Linolenic acid 2 %

Saturated fatty acids:

o

Palmitic acid 23 %

Stearic acid 4 %

Myristic acid 1 %

Egg yolk is a source of lecithin, an emulsifier.

A large yolk contains more than two-thirds of the recommended daily limit of 300mg of cholesterol.
Cod liver oil is a nutritional supplement derived from liver of cod fish. It has high levels of the omega-3 fatty acids, EPA
and DHA, and very high levels of vitamin A, and vitamin D. n3 fatty acids (popularly referred to as 3 fatty acids or
omega-3 fatty acids) are a family of unsaturated fatty acids that have in common a carboncarbon double bond in the
n3 position; that is, the third bond from the methyl end of the fatty acid.
Important nutritionally essential n3 fatty acids are: -linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and
docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The human body cannot synthesize n3 fatty acids de novo, but it can form 20- and 22carbon unsaturated n3 fatty acids from the eighteen-carbon n3 fatty acid, -linolenic acid. These conversions occur
competitively with n6 fatty acids, which are essential closely related chemical analogues that are derived from linoleic
acid. Both the n3 -linolenic acid and n6 linoleic acid are essential nutrients which must be obtained from food.
Synthesis of the longer n3 fatty acids from linolenic acid within the body is competitively slowed by the n6 analogues.
Thus accumulation of long-chain n3 fatty acids in tissues is more effective when they are obtained directly from food or
when competing amounts of n6 analogs do not greatly exceed the amounts of n3.