Translations:Maltose/4/en

Structure and nomenclature

Carbohydrates are generally divided into monosaccharides, oligosaccharides, and polysaccharides depending on the number of sugar subunits. Maltose, with two sugar units, is a disaccharide, which falls under oligosaccharides. Glucose is a hexose: a monosaccharide containing six carbon atoms. The two glucose units are in the pyranose form and are joined by an O-glycosidic bond, with the first carbon (C₁) of the first glucose linked to the fourth carbon (C₄) of the second glucose, indicated as (1→4). The link is characterized as α because the glycosidic bond to the anomeric carbon (C₁) is in the opposite plane from the CH
₂OH substituent in the same ring (C₆ of the first glucose). If the glycosidic bond to the anomeric carbon (C₁) were in the same plane as the CH
₂OH substituent, it would be classified as a β(1→4) bond, and the resulting molecule would be cellobiose. The anomeric carbon (C₁) of the second glucose molecule, which is not involved in a glycosidic bond, could be either an α- or β-anomer depending on the bond direction of the attached hydroxyl group relative to the CH
₂OH substituent of the same ring, resulting in either α-maltose or β-maltose.