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Even though these complex polysaccharides are not very digestible, they provide important dietary elements for humans. Called dietary fiber , these carbohydrates enhance digestion. The main action of dietary fiber is to change the nature of the contents of the gastrointestinal tract and how other nutrients and chemicals are absorbed.
Functional groups can also be charged, e.g. in carboxylate salts (−COO −), which turns the molecule into a polyatomic ion or a complex ion. Functional groups binding to a central atom in a coordination complex are called ligands. Complexation and solvation are also caused by specific interactions of functional groups.
Lactose is a disaccharide found in animal milk. It consists of a molecule of D-galactose and a molecule of D-glucose bonded by beta-1-4 glycosidic linkage.. A carbohydrate (/ ˌ k ɑːr b oʊ ˈ h aɪ d r eɪ t /) is a biomolecule consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water) and thus with the empirical formula C m ...
Carbohydrates can generally be classified into one of two groups, monosacharides, and complex carbohydrates.Monosacharides (also called "simple sugars") are the simplest single units of any carbohydrate; the most common monosaccharides are five and six carbon compounds such as glucose, fructose, and galactose. [2]
Monosaccharides are subunits that cannot be further hydrolysed in to simpler units. Depending on the number of carbon atom they are further classified into trioses, tetroses, pentoses, hexoses etc., which is further classified in to aldoses and ketoses depending on the type of functional group present in them. [1]
In organic chemistry, a carbonyl group is a functional group with the formula C=O, composed of a carbon atom double-bonded to an oxygen atom, and it is divalent at the C atom. It is common to several classes of organic compounds (such as aldehydes, ketones and carboxylic acid), as part of many larger functional groups. A compound containing a ...
Many carbohydrates contain modified monosaccharide units that have had functional groups replaced or removed. Polyphenols consist of a branched structure of multiple phenolic subunits. They can perform structural roles (e.g. lignin) as well as roles as secondary metabolites involved in signalling, pigmentation and defense.
Due to the complexity of these structures, the chemical synthesis of carbohydrates has a variety of unique strategies and methods. Both chemical and enzymatic methods can be used to generate these structures, and often a combination of the two approaches is used to generate complex polysaccharides .