Carbohydrates monomeric

Biopolymers are the naturally occurring macromolecular materials that are the components of all living systems. There are three principal categories of biopolymers, each of which is the topic of a separate article in the Eniyclopedia proteins (qv) nucleic acids (qv) and polysaccharides (see Carbohydrates Microbial polysaccharides). Biopolymers are formed through condensation of monomeric units ie, the corresponding monomers are amino acids (qv), nucleotides, and monosaccharides, for proteins, nucleic acids, and polysaccharides, respectively. The term biopolymers is also used to describe synthetic polymers prepared from the same or similar monomer units as are the natural molecules. 

Polysaccharides. Polysaccharides, also called glycans, are the nutrient and stmctural materials of plants. They are a principle part of the carbohydrate portion of the biomass. The most prevalent monomeric carbohydrate is glucose. Common polysaccharides are all polymers of glucose (Pig. 

First, the above-mentioned sensors have major drawbacks, as the detection and recognition event is a function of the nature and characteristics of the side chains, and the side chain functionalization of the CP requires advanced synthesis and extensive purification of numerous monomeric and polymeric derivatives. Second, this generation of sensors primarily employed optical absorption as the source for detection, resulting in lower sensitivity when compared with other sensing systems for biological processes. However, the use of fluorescence detection within these sensing systems could justify continued development. More recent examples include a fluorescent polythiophene derivative with carbohydrate functionalized side chains for the detection of different bacteria [15] and novel synthesis schemes for ligand-functionalization of polythiophenes [16]. 

Monomeric carbohydrates in their cyclic form (furanoses and pyranoses) are hemiacetals, which, to become acetals, form 0-glycosyl conjugates. The C-atom C(l) that bears two O-atoms is the reactive, electrophilic center targeted by glycosidases. Nonenzymatic hydrolysis is also possible, although, as a rule, under physiological conditions of pH and temperature, the reaction is of limited significance. 

Suppose we start with a starch-rich meal, say one containing a lot of pasta or bread. The digestion of starches begins in the mouth. Saliva contains an enzyme, salivary amylase (aka ptyalin), which catalyzes the conversion of starch to simple sugars such as glucose. This process is completed in the small intestine under the influence of other enzymes in the amylase class. This completes the first phase of carbohydrate catabolism the conversion of complex, polymeric carbohydrates (e.g., starches) to their simple monomeric units, the sugars. 

Ester-type dimers illustrate the four-step approach for identification of carbohydrate structural elements in the oligosaccharide cores by NMR spectroscopy. Eor these type of compounds, edited NMR sub-spectra have permitted the assignment of all of the resonances in both monomeric units (22, 78). Spectroscopic simulation of the coupling constants can be deduced for proton resonances with a non-first-order resolution. Figure 2 illustrates this approach for batatin 1 (230) the... 

It is noteworthy that most of the chemical shift values for all three polymers may be closely approximated ( ) by calculations based on data for monomeric reference compounds. These findings illustrate, therefore, the general validity of studies on low molecular weight model compounds for einalysis of spectra of carbohydrate polymers. Many examples of equally satisfactory comparisons of this kind are to be found in studies on other polysaccharides (11,23). These polymers include glucans (l6), mannans (2k, 2 ), limit dextrins (26), lichenin (2j), agarose (28) and various polysaccharides of fungal and microbial orgins (e.g., 7,8,29-31). Observed departures from expectation have been attributed to specific conformational influences ( 8). 

The second section of the book, entitled Total Synthesis of Carbohydrates , focuses on strategies for the generation of monomeric carbohydrates, with major emphasis on the use of nonchiral, acyclic precursors. The contributors do not reinvent the wheel by providing tedious synthetic access to abundant natural sugars. Rather, they show... 

The relationship, if any, between the secondary metabolism of L-phenylalanine and carbohydrate degradation during brown-rot wood decay processes has not yet been determined. However, we suspect that the secondary metabolism of this aromatic amino-acid plays an important role in converting monomeric sugars to nitrogen-free metabolites (Shimada, M., and Takahashi, M., In Handbook of Wood and Cellulosic Materials Hon,... 

Separating Biomolecules In studying a particular biomolecule (a protein, nucleic acid, carbohydrate, or lipid) in the laboratory, the biochemist first needs to separate it from other biomolecules in the sample—that is, to purify it. Specific purification techniques are described later in the text. However, by looking at the monomeric subunits of a biomolecule, you should have some ideas about the characteristics of the molecule that would allow you to separate it from other molecules. For example, how would you separate (a) amino acids from fatty acids and (b) nucleotides from glucose ... 

The presence of carbohydrates in all cells, similarities in structure of the monomeric sugar units, and the significant functional differences in the polymeric species have been a challenge to all researchers concerned with these materials. Carbohydrates are of great abundance and play many roles in biology from protective coats and structural materials to primary energy sources... 

Again in the carbohydrate field, Raphael and Roxburgh14 4 described the preparation of a labile intermediate assumed to possess a monomeric epoxy ether structure but too reactive to allow its isolation. Unsuccessful attempts by Huffman and Tarbcll 48 to prepare an epoxide from 2-benzhydrylidenetotrahydrctfuran constitute additional evidence of the instability of bicyolio epoxy ethers. 

The actual position of the linkages in a branched polymer, such as (2), will depend on the relative reactivities of the hydroxyl groups. These reactivities are known to be different both in monomeric and polymeric carbohydrates.28 In a study24 of the condensation polymerization of undo) W. II. Carothers, Trans. Faraday Soc., S3, 39 (1936) Chem. Rev., 8, 353 (1931) Ref. 12, pp. 31—132. 

As already mentioned, formation of glycosidic linkages between monomeric units of the carbohydrate-containing polymers of the bacterial cell-surface is catalyzed by membrane-bound glycosyltransferases, and glycosyl nucleotides are the usual glycosyl donors in the reaction. 

Carbohydrate chains of teichuronic acids and neutral polysaccharides linked to the carbohydrate chains of peptidoglycans are fragments of macromolecules of Gram-positive cell-wall. Only two examples of the biosynthesis of these polymers have been studied in detail. Evidence for both block and monomeric mechanisms of the chain assembly was obtained. 

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