Monosaccharide

∞ generated and posted on 2016.08.22 ∞

A sugar consisting of a single carbohydrate subunit.

Glucose and fructose are both monosaccharides. Monosaccharide categories include aldose, ketose, triose, pentose, hexose, etc. By contrast, see disaccharide.

Monosaccharide

Figure legend: Different ways of looking at the basic subunit of carbohydrates: monosaccharides. Note that (C2O)n basic formula (n carbons = C, n oxygens = O, and 2 × n hydrogens = H, where n is some number, such a 3, 4, 5, or 6). A hexose thus has six carbon atoms, six oxygen atoms, and 12 hydrogen atoms. Note also that monosaccharides are often drawn with not all carbons (C) explicitly shown (unlike as indicated here, particularly in the lower right).

Glucose is the blood sugar whereas fructose is fruit sugar.


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