Question

Give the classification of carbohydrates with examples.

Answer 1

On the basis of the number of forming units, three major classes of carbohydrates can be defined:-

• Monosaccharides,
  

Monosaccharides are the simplest carbohydrate which cannot be hydrolyzed further.

• Oligosaccharides

Oligosaccharides on hydrolysis give 2-10 units of monosaccharides. They are further classified as a disaccharide, trisaccharides, etc.

• Polysaccharides.
  

Polysaccharides on hydrolysis give a large number of monosaccharide units. Their general formula is $(C_6{H}_{10}{O}_5{)}_n$.

Sugar	Example
Monosaccharide	Glucose, Fructose, Ribose, Arabinose
Oligosaccharide	Sucrose, Trehalose, Maltose, Lactose
Polysaccharide	Starch, Cellulose, Glycogen, Chietin