Understanding Salts, Carbohydrates, and Their Functions

Posted on Jan 19, 2025 in Chemistry

Salts and Their Functions

SALTS: There are many varieties of salt ions such as ion. Essential: fluid balance and acid-base balance. Sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium (cations) and chloride, bicarbonate, phosphate, and sulfate are anions.

Dispersion is defined as the mechanical interposition of particles of a substance within another. Depending on the size, there are:

  1. Coarse dispersion (1000 Å): Visible under a microscope, does not pass through permeable or semi-permeable membranes (dialysis).
  2. Colloidal solutions (10 to 1000 Å): Invisible to the human eye and microscope, cross-permeable membranes but are retained by membrane dialysis.
  3. True solutions (10 Å): Not visible in an optical microscope, cross permeable and semi-permeable dialytic membranes.

A dilute solution has a relatively small amount of solute, while a concentrated solution contains large amounts of solute. A saturated solution contains the maximum amount of solute that can be dissolved. A supersaturated solution has a higher solute concentration than a saturated solution. An unsaturated solution has a lower solute concentration than a saturated solution under the same conditions.

Diffusion is an irreversible physical process where particles move into an area where they were initially absent, increasing the system’s entropy. Dialysis is the passage of a solvent (usually water) from a higher concentration to a lower concentration.


Carbohydrates: Composition and Classification

CARB: Composed of C, H, and O. The glucose molecule (C6H12O6) is fundamental to living organisms. Structural features include cell membranes and cell walls. Energetically, some is stored in the liver and muscle as glycogen.

Classification of Carbohydrates

  • Monosaccharides (glucose, fructose, galactose)
  • Disaccharides (sucrose, lactose, maltose)
  • Oligosaccharides (maltodextrin, fructo-oligosaccharides)
  • Polysaccharides (starch: amylose, amylopectin; non-starch: cellulose, pectins, hydrocolloids)

Monosaccharides

Small molecules ranging from 3 to 7 carbons.

  • Aldoses: (glyceraldehyde, ribose, and glucose) contain hydroxyl groups and an aldehyde group.
  • Ketoses: (dihydroxyacetone, ribulose, and fructose) contain a ketone group.

Cyclization: Internal reordering of atoms.

Anomers: If the radical is below, it’s alpha-OH; if above, it’s beta-OH. A dicarbonyl is formed when the union occurs through the hemiacetal-OH, leading to a reduction of the molecule.

Oligosaccharides are formed by the union of several monosaccharides, but they do not have sufficient molecular weight to be classified as polysaccharides.

Polysaccharides

Polysaccharides are insoluble in water or form colloidal solutions.

  • Starch is found in plant amyloplasts, forming polymer granules and is a genetic reserve. It can be amylose (unbranched) or amylopectin (branched).
  • Glycogen is the homologous polysaccharide to starch in animals, serving as an energy reserve with more branching than plant starch.
  • Cellulose is a structural polysaccharide and the major constituent of cell walls.

Some proteins can be covalently linked to lipids to form glycoproteins or glycolipids.