Carbohydrate Chemistry

The following sections are included:

• Preface
• Contents

Carbohydrates are naturally present in plants (70–75% of dry matter) and animals (5–10% of dry matter). They are mainly formed in green plants in a multitude of biosynthetic pathways from the products of photosynthetic reactions; their structures range from various monomers to giant polymer molecules. Carbohydrates serve as basic energy sources (sugars) or reserve fuels (starch and glycogen), but they also form supporting structures in plants and certain animals (cellulose and chitin). Carbohydrates and their derivatives are also found as structural members in numerous biologically important substances, such as nucleic acids (DNA and RNA).

The following sections are included:

• The Era Before the 1800s
• The Time After the 1700s

The following sections are included:

• General
• Constitutional Isomerism
• Basic Factors Influencing the Three-dimensional Compound Structures
• Stereoisomerism
• Racemic Modifications
• Conformational Isomerism
• Geometric Isomerism

The following sections are included:

• The Fischer Projection
• The Total Number of Stereoisomers

The following sections are included:

• Fundamental Definitions
• Relative and Absolute Configuration

The following sections are included:

• Mutarotation
• Planar Formulas
• Naming of Conformations

Until about the 1940s, carbohydrates had been generally named as proposed by individual researchers, and they were either accepted by the scientific community or failed to gain such popularity. Only thereafter, the “official circles” started to pay more attention to standardizing the nomenclature of carbohydrates; this development led through many intermediate phases to the publication of comprehensive rules and recommendations in the late 1990s. Currently, a more specific practice of naming has been published as a joint operation of the “International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry” (IUPAC) and the “International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology” (IUBMB). It is clear that, along with the continuing development of the field, many details of carbohydrate naming will be further clarified and complemented.

The following sections are included:

• Photosynthesis
• Polysaccharides

This chapter primarily describes the most common natural carbohydrates and their derivatives. Our inquiry is largely based on the previous chapters, especially regarding the naming and classification of the basic compounds. In this context, some new examples will be presented of the naming process of compounds belonging to carbohydrate derivatives. It should be emphasized that among the carbohydrate derivatives, there are substantial numbers of compounds (cf., Chapt. “12. Utilization of Biomass”) that are not necessarily found in nature.

The following sections are included:

• Glycosides
  • Cardiac glycosides
  • Cyanogenic glycosides
  • Glucosinolates
  • Other glycosides
• Nucleic Acids
• Vitamins
• Antibiotics
  • Aminoglycosides
  • Macrolides
  • Lincomycins
  • Other antibiotics
• Other Substance Groups
  • Hormones
  • Alkaloids

A number of carbohydrate derivatives and their preparation have already been discussed in Chapts. “9. Natural Carbohydrates and Their Derivatives” — in particular, in Chapt. “9.4. Polysaccharides and Their Derivatives” — and “10. Carbohydrate Residue-containing Substance Groups”. In addition, many basic reactions of carbohydrates, especially in the context of industrial utilization of biomass resources, are presented in Chapt. “12. Utilization of Biomass”.

The following sections are included:

• General Aspects
• Production of Chemicals
• Production of Biofuels
  • Fischer-Tropsch process
  • Pyrolysis
  • Anaerobic digestion
  • Production of bioenergy
• Chemical Delignification
  • Kraft pulping
  • Sulfite pulping
  • Non-wood pulping
• Integrated Biorefineries
  • Alkaline pre-treatments
  • Acidic pre-treatments
• Concluding Remarks

The following sections are included:

• Bibliography
• Indexes
  • Index of General Subjects
  • Index of Selected Compounds
  • Index of Names of Persons