Bio Revision Questions

Chapter 1 --- Carbohydrates

1. What is the general formula for carbohydrates? Cx(H2O)n

2. What makes a monosaccharide? - a carbohydrate which cant be hydrolysed to simpler carbohydrates - general formula (CH20)n (ratio C:H:O = 1:2:1) - has a carbonyl group ----------------------------> - no. of carbons range from 3 to 7

3. Name 3 common monosaccharides Glucose, fructose and galactose

4. What are the differences between aldose and ketose? 1) location of carbonyl group - aldose: at the end of the molecule - ketose: nested within the molecule 2) reducing ability - aldose: all the time - ketose: only in alkaline solutions

5. How do you draw a pyranose ring? 1) numbering starts from rightmost C, clockwise 2) last C branch out from top left corner as CH2OH 3) top right corner is O not C 4) H-OH of C3 is flipped

6. What is the difference between -glucose and -glucose? - Position of OH group of C1 above/below plane of ring - -glucose: H above, OH below - -glucose: OH above, H below

7. How can a glucose molecule exhibit isomerism? 1) linear form vs ring form (glucose vs pyranose) 2) position of carbonyl group (glucose vs fructose) 3) and forms (-glucose vs -glucose) 4) orientation of C4s hydroxyl group (glucose vs galactose)

8. Give examples of trioses, pentoses and hexoses. - Triose: GP and G3P (photosynthesis), pyruvate (respiration) - Pentose: ribose and deoxyribose, ATP, RuBP, NaDH and NaD - Hexose: glucose, fructose, galactose

9. Why can monosaccharides such as glucose be transported easily in animals and plants? 1) small in size 2) many OH groups to form H-bonds with water >>>>> 3) readily soluble in water

10. How can monosaccharides join together to form many different large molecules? 1) exist as rings stable building blocks 2) rings are joined together by glycosidic bonds 3) exhibit isomerism (eg. and ) large diversity of monosaccharides building blocks for different large molecule

11. What makes a disaccharide? - 2 monosaccharide monomers joined by a glycosidic bond/linkage - molecular formula C12H22O11 (because of removal of H2O)

12. What is a glycosidic bond? A covalent bond formed between 2 monosaccharides by a condensation reaction to form a larger/longer molecule, with the loss of a water molecule

13. How can a glycosidic bond be broken? By hydrolysis (the addition of a water molecule)

14. What dissacharides can be formed from glucose, fructose and galactose? - Maltose (Glucose + Glucose) - Sucrose (Glucose + Fructose) - Lactose (Glucose + Galactose)

15. How are maltose and sucrose formed? Maltose: (1-4) glycosidic bond between C1 and C4 of 2 -glucoses Sucrose: (1-2) glycosidic bond between C1 of -glucose and C2 of fructose

16. Name a reducing carbohydrate. What makes it reducing? Maltose due to the presence of free carbonyl group on C1 of the 2nd glucose monomer

17. Name a non- reducing carbohydrate. What makes it non-reducing? Sucrose It has no free carbonyl groups (carbonyl group on C1 of glucose and C2 of fructose are used to form glycosidic bond)

18. What are the steps for Benedicts test? 1) Place 2cm3 of test solution in test tube 2) Add equal/excess volume of Benedicts reagent 3) Shake test tube 4) Heat by immersing test tube in boiling water for about 3 min

19. How does Benedicts test work? 1) reducing sugar reduces blue CuSO4 to red insoluble Cu2O 2) the greater the amount of red precipitate, the greater the amount of reducing sugar (blue<green<yellow<brown<brick-red)

20. How to test for non-reducing sugar like sucrose? 1) Carry out Benedicts test 2) If result is negative, carry out acid hydrolysis test 1) Boil equal volume of test solution with dilute HCl acid (to hydrolyse sugar to monosaccharides) 2) Cool the tube content 3) Neutralize with sodium hydrogen carbonate 3) Carry out Benedicts test again (if positive, non-reducing sugar present)

21. What makes a polysaccharide? - a carbohydrate formed by the condensation of many monosaccharides - number of monomers range from hundreds to thousands

22. What are some examples of polysaccharides? - Starch and glycogen (storage polysaccharides) - Cellulose (structural polysaccharides)

23. What are the 2 forms of starch? What are their % proportions in plants? Amylose (20%) and amylopectin (80%)

24. Give 2 similarities and 3 differences between amylose and amylopectin. Point of comparison monomer structure Amylose Amylopectin

-glucose monomers each chain is coiled into a helix (due to 120 angle of (1-4) bond) (1-4) glycosidic bonds within a branch (1-4) glycosidic bonds (1-6) glycosidic bonds at the branch points - unbranched polymer - branched polymer - made up of many long helical chains attached to one another at branch points up to 1,000,000 (much more than amylose) - made up of a single, long and helical chain

bond

branching

number of monomers

200 to 20,000

25. How is the structure of glycogen similar to and different from the structure of starch? 1) glycogen has similar structures, monomers and bonds as amylopectin 2) except that glycogen is more extensively branched

26. Why does iodine turns blue-black in the presence of starch? Triiodide ions in iodine solution fit into the centre of each turn of the helices, forming a complex which gives a blue-black colour.

27. How can we make the blue-black colour disappear? Boil the starch-iodine mixture, which causes the temporary unwinding of the helices which release the iodine molecules

28. Why are starch and glycogen suitable as storage molecules? 1) made up of many -glucose monomers, can be hydrolysed to many -glucose, which can be oxidized to release energy large energy store 2) large molecule insoluble low impact on water potential of cells (little effect on movement of water molecules in/out of cells) 3) comprise of helices compact energy storage (more molecules can be stored within a fixed volume) 4) bonds are broken by the enzyme amylase which is commonly found in animals/plants easily hydrolysed when required 5) amylopectin and glycogen has many branches multiple ends for multiple enzymes to work on at the same time more glucose monomers released at the same time high rate of energy generation

29. Why is sucrose used as a transport unit in plants instead of glucose? Difference glucose is reducing, sucrose is non-reducing Advantage sucrose is less easily metabolized during transport

sucrose carries twice the amount of glucose glucose is a monosaccharide, monomers as the same concentration of sucrose is a disaccharide glucose, but affect the water potential of cells to the same extent more efficient glucose is oxidised by respiratory enzymes which is present in all cells. sucrose is hydrolysed by invertase/sucrase which is not present in the phloem.

30. Why does cellulose has high tensile strength and rigidity? 1) made up of -glucose monomers 2) which are joined together by (1-4) glycosidic bonds 3) thus alternate monomers are rotated 180 4) thus the molecule is long, straight and unbranched 5) hence a) molecules can be packed closely together b) OH groups project out from the side of the chain in both directions 6) hence OH groups are free to form hydrogen bonds with OH groups of adjacent cellulose molecules to form microfibril which give rise to high tensile strength 7) microfibrils criss-cross with one another to form a meshwork which provides structural rigidity as it distributes the stresses in all directions

31. Why is cellulose suitable as a structural polysaccharide and a major component of cell walls? 1) high tensile strength (refer to question 30) 2) meshwork is a porous structure (due to the criss-crossing) freely permeable to water and other small substances 3) large molecule insoluble unaffected by water 4) enzyme cellulase not commonly available in organisms

32. What are the differences in structure between cellulose and starch? Point of comparison monomer bond Cellulose -glucose (1-4) glycosidic bonds Starch -glucose (1-4) glycosidic bonds (1-6) glycosidic bonds

orientation alternate glucose units are rotated 180 of monomers straight chain (due to orientation) no branching -OH groups project out in both directions interchain H-bonding chains microfibrils meshwork

all glucose units have the same orientation

structure branching interchain bonding level of packing

helical (due to 120 of bond) branching in amylopectin

no interchain H-bonding

no higher level of packing