Monosaccharides

The Eight Essential Monosaccharides

Page 1 of 5

• Page 1: The Eight Essential Monosaccharides
• Page 2: Glucose and Galactose
• Page 3: Mannose and Xylose
• Page 4: N-Acetyl Glucosamine and N-Acetyl Galactosamine
• Page 5: Fucose and N-Acetyl Neuraminic Acid

A saccharide is a sugar.^[1] A glycan is a chain of saccharides.^[2] A monosaccharide is a single sugar molecule (example: glucose), a disaccharide is a chain of two sugar molecules (example: lactose which is composed of glucose and galactose), an oligosaccharide is a chain of sugars ranging from three to 20 molecules long,^[3] and a polysaccharide is a chain of sugars anywhere from 10 to thousands of thousands of sugars long and wide.^[4]

Of the more than 200 saccharides found in nature, there are eight monosaccharides (glyconutrients) which are commonly found on the surface of our cells’ membranes and necessary for proper cellular function.^[5] These are:

• Glucose
• Galactose
• Mannose
• Xylose
• Fucose
• N-acetyl Glucosamine
• N-acetyl Galactosamine
• N-acetyl Neuraminic Acid

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References:

[1] TheFreeDictionary.com. Available at
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/saccharide.
Accessed August 12, 2008.

[2] Biology-Online.org. Available at:
http://www.biology-online.org/dictionary/Glycan.
Accessed August 12, 2008.

[3] Answers.com. Available at:
http://www.answers.com/topic/oligosaccharide.
Accessed August 12, 2008.

[4] Answers.com. Available at:
http://www.answers.com/topic/polysaccharide.
Accessed August 12, 2008.

[5] McMurry, John. Organic Chemistry. 7e. Belmont, CA: Thompson Higher Education, 2008.