Question

What is the name of the linkage connecting the monosaccharides in polysaccharides?

Answer 1

Glycosidic linkage:

• “The two monosaccharides are joined together by an oxide linkage formed by the loss of a water molecule. Such a linkage between two monosaccharide units through oxygen atom is called glycosidic linkage.”

Example of Glycosidic linkage:

• Sucrose which on hydrolysis gives an equimolar mixture of $\mathrm{D}-(+)-\mathrm{glucose}$and $\mathrm{D}-(-)\mathrm{fructose}$.
• These two monosaccharides are held together by a glycosidic linkage between ${\mathrm{C}}_1$ of $\mathrm{\alpha }-\mathrm{D}-\mathrm{glucose}$ and ${\mathrm{C}}_2$of $\mathrm{\beta }-\mathrm{D}-\mathrm{fructose}$.
• The formation of sucrose is shown below: