Let us ask you what are the examples of monosaccharides. Don’t know? You don’t need to worry about that, we are here with some prominent examples of monosaccharides. During your schooling, you might have learned about monosaccharides. Monosaccharides are nothing but natural sugar that cannot be split into simpler sugars, hence it is also called simple sugar. It consists of a single unit that contains a carbon chain of three to six carbons. They can be combined by glycosidic bonds to form larger carbohydrates.

 Without further delay let’s come to the examples of monosaccharides.   

What Are The Monosaccharides? 

According to biochemistry and biology, a monosaccharide is a simple sugar that constitutes the building blocks of more complex forms of sugars including oligosaccharides and polysaccharides. Oligosaccharides examples are raffinose, fructooligosaccharides, and galactooligosaccharides while polysaccharides examples are starch, glycogen, and cellulose. The term “Monosaccharide” etymologically means “Single Saccharide”. Carbohydrates refer to the unit structure of carbohydrates. Thus, a monosaccharide is a carbohydrate consisting of a single unit of sugar.

Monosaccharides are simple sugars, which means they can not be broken down any further into impeller sugars by hydrolysis. However, monosaccharides can combine with each other to form more complex types. Monosaccharide structure is also very simple. 

Now, what is a monosaccharide? Let’s know all examples of monosaccharides. 

What Are The Examples Of Monosaccharides?  

Here is a list of examples of monosaccharides that will make you aware of the monosaccharides surrounding you. 

1. Glucose 
2. Galactose 
3. Fructose 

Let’s explore the examples of monosaccharides and functions. 

Examples Of Monosaccharides  

Let’s know the examples of monosaccharide and their sources in detail. Keep reading till the end. 

1. Glucose 

One of the common examples of monosaccharide food is glucose. Glucose is a natural and ubiquitous monosaccharide. It can join with other monosaccharide units to form disaccharides called maltose, lactose, and sucrose. Is lactose a monosaccharide? No, lactose is a disaccharide. Glucose is one of the products of polysynthesis in plants and other photosynthetic organisms. In plants, glucose molecules are stored as repeating sugar units. It is also an important component of pullulan and cellulose. Thus, it is found abundantly in plant juices, fruits, and any other plant organs. When you eat ripe fruit, its taste may be sweet, this is because of stored glucose in it. Not all ripened fruits are sweet, some are sour, because of a lack of stored glucose. 

Glucose is also an important metabolic intermediate and an important source of energy for cellular respiration. In animals, it circulates in the blood, hence the name blood sugar. Excess amounts of glucose stored in animals are called glycogen. 

2. Galactose 

After knowing the food examples of monosaccharides, the second example of monosaccharides is galactose. Galactose is relatively similar to glucose in terms of chemical structure. However, the orientations on OH and H on C4 are exchanged. So, a single change in the position of a chemical component changes the whole properties of the compound. Galactose is a component of complex biomolecular.  

For example, galactose together with glucose forms lactose, which is a disaccharide. Lactose, milk disaccharide consisting of galactose linked to glucose by a -(1-4) glycosidic bond. The joining of galactose and glucose is catalyzed by the enzymes lactose and Beta-galactosidase. Galactose metabolism is carried out via the Leloir pathway.  

3. Fructose 

The third and last example of monosaccharide is fructose, which is the sweetest naturally occurring carbohydrate. Some of the natural courses of fructose are honey, sugar cane, and some types of fruits. It is a ketogenic monosaccharide because it has a reducing group called a C2 carbonyl. This is opposite to glucose, which has an aldose group at C1. fructose occurs naturally in plants, especially in fruits, root vegetables, etc. It is free or combined with glucose to form sucrose. Sucrose is a disaccharide because it is formed due to glucose and fructose. When two monosaccharides are attached to each other, the resulting compound is called a disaccharide. Therefore, the examples of monosaccharides and disaccharides are dependent on each other. 

Now, you know the examples of monosaccharides with structure, but when you read this article carefully, then you will find examples of monosaccharides, disaccharides, and polysaccharides. 

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FAQ

What Are 5 Examples Of Monosaccharides?

Examples of monosaccharides include glucose (dextrose), fructose, galactose, xylose and ribose. Monosaccharides are the building blocks of disaccharides like sucrose (common sugar) and polysaccharides (such as cellulose and starch).

What Are The 8 Monosaccharides?

The eight monosaccharides are L-fucose, D-galactose, N-acetyl-D-glucosamine, N-acetyl-D-galactosamine, D-glucose, D -mannose, N-acetyl-D-neuraminic acid, and D-xylose.

What Are 3 Common Monosaccharides?

The three main monosaccharides that we consume are fructose, galactose and glucose. These monosaccharides combine in various pairs to form the three disaccharides that are most important in human nutrition: lactose, maltose and sucrose.

What Are The 6 Important Monosaccharides?

6.4: Important Monosaccharides

• Important Hexoses.
• Glucose.
• Galactose.
• Fructose.
• Important Pentoses.

Conclusion 

By reading this article you got an answer to what are some examples of monosaccharides. Do you know? In our body, protein is one of the essential components, without protein our body can not grow. And to make a protein, monosaccharides are a must. The chemical formula of monosaccharide is CnH2nOn and its chemical structure is H(CHOH)nC=O(CHOC)mH. The ratio of hydrogen atoms to oxygen atoms is often 2:1. The exception to this is deoxyribose, a type of monosaccharide forum in DNA. now, you have understood all the examples of monosaccharides, you won’t need to search for them again.