Nomenclature and Structure of Carbohydrates

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The book concludes with three chapters that involve multifunctional molecules. Heterocycles are introduced in Chapter 26, with nomenclature and structure as well some elementary chemical reactions of heterocyclic compounds. Amino acids and peptides are discussed in Chapter 27 and carbohydrates and nucleic acids are discussed in Chapter 28. These last three chapters are, arguably, the most important to biological chemistry. 

Chapters 34 and 35 cover the structure, stereochemistry, nomenclature, and chemical reactions of carbohydrates. 

The saccharides have long and awkward names by the IUPAC system, consequently a highly specialized nomenclature system has been developed for carbohydrates. Because this system (and those like it for other natural products) is unlikely to be replaced by more systematic names, you will find it necessary to memorize some names and structures. It will help you to remember the meaning of names such as aldopentose and ketohexose, and to learn the names and details of the structures of glucose, fructose, and ribose. For the rest of the carbohydrates, the nonspecialist needs only to remember the kind of compounds that they are. 

When the structures of derivatives of the parent compounds depart more and more from those of the original sugars, the bridged-system nomenclature may be advantageously applied over the carbohydrate terms. This could be the case when one, or both, of the OH groups on C-4 and C-8 is (are) absent, as in the deoxy series (see Section V,3), and also in the oxidation products (see Section V,4), where sugar-derived names become complex. 

Using the condensed system of carbohydrate nomenclature (ref. 2, section 3.7 ref. 4, 2-Carb-38.5), positions of glycosidic linkages and anomeric configurations are expressed in parentheses between the monosaccharide residues that are thus linked. This principle should be adhered to with full names as well as with the abbreviated structures. A short form for repre-... 

For a description of the systematic nomenclature of carbohydrates, see HI Allen, EC Kisailus, eds. Glycoconjugates Composition, Structure and Function. New York Marcel Dekker, 1992. 

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