User:Dermot O'Malley/Sandbox 3

From Proteopedia

Glucose Glucose is the primary source of energy for humans. It is a 'carbohydrate' meaning that each carbon atom is associated with one hydrate or H2O group. Glucose has 6 carbon atoms and therefore 12 hydrogen and 6 oxygen atoms. This is the simplest type of sugar, known as a monosaccharide. The carbon atoms are arranged in a circular fashion, and this is how glucose exists in nature, as opposed to the linear arrangement. The carbons are numbered 1 to 6, starting from the aldehyde group. -Show atomic makeup. 6c...h12...o6. ring...linear append...aldehyde label.

The front view of this glucose molecule shows that the x and y groups lie on opposite sides of the carbon ring. This is known as a trans or alpha arrangement, and this is the arrangement of blood glucose units. The polymer of alpha glucose is starch. STARCH D AND L BONDS

Sugars have a relatively high number of hydroxyl groups, which means a high level of hydrogen bonding to water molecules. This means that glucose is highly soluble in aqueous environments like blood, essential to make it available for cellular respiration. These same properties that make glucose a hydrophobic molecule also mean that glucose is lipophobic, meaning that it cannot passively diffuse through the lipid bilayer of the cell wall. So instead glucose is actively transported through the cell wall by GluT.

- highlight and label hydroxyl groups. show glut?

Glucose and carbohydrates have a high number of carbon-hydrogen bonds, which bond relatively loosely. This means the bonds tend to release energy in reactions, which explains why the process of glycolysis is a universal way of harvesting energy in biological systems.