Monosaccharides branched chain, naturally occurring

Naturally occurring polysaccharides can occur either as individual carbohydrate molecules or in combination with other naturally occurring substances, such as proteins (glycoproteins) and lipids (glycolipids). In all cases the polysaccharide section may have linear or branched chain structures, which often contain the derivatives of both monosaccharides and aminosugars (Figure 1.20). 

Polysaccharides are naturally occurring polymers, which can be considered as derived from aldoses or ketoses by condensation polymerization. A polysaccharide derived from hexoses, for example, has the general formula (C6H]oOs)n. This formula, of course, tells us very little about the structure of the polysaccharide. We need to know what the monosaccharide units are and how many there are in each molecule how they are joined to each other and whether the huge molecules thus formed are straight-chained or branched, looped or coiled. 

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