Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are known as saccharides, simple sugar molecules. A glucose molecule is a monosaccharide, which is a single sugar unit. Two monosaccharides make a disaccharides for example lactose and sucrose. Many sugar molecules joined together is calles a polysaccharide. An example of this is glycogen or cellulose. 

Glucose is a hexose monosaccharide as it has 6 carbons, the chemical formula for glucose is C6H12O6. The carbons are labelled clockwise from the carbon to the right of the oxygen. There are two different structures of glucose, alpha and beta, which both have different structures. In alpha glucose, the hydroxyll group is on the bottom  

Whereas in beta glucose, the hyrdroxyll group on the right is at the top. 

When two alpha molecules react, this is the interaction between the two hydroxyll groups. A condensation reaction removes water and creates a bond between the two molecules. This…