α-Maltose | |
β-Maltose | |
Names | |
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IUPAC name 4-O-α-D-Glucopyranosyl-D-glucose | |
Systematic IUPAC name (3R,4R,5S,6R)-6-(hydroxymethyl)-5-{[(2R,3R,4S,5S,6R)-3,4,5-trihydroxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)oxan-2-yl]oxy}oxane-2,3,4-triol | |
Identifiers | |
3D model (JSmol) | |
ChEBI | |
ChEMBL | |
ChemSpider | |
ECHA InfoCard | 100.000.651 |
EC Number |
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KEGG | |
PubChem CID | |
UNII | |
CompTox Dashboard (EPA) | |
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Properties [1] | |
C12H22O11 | |
Molar mass | 342.297 g·mol−1 |
Appearance | White powder or crystals |
Density | 1.54 g/cm3 |
Melting point | 160 to 165 °C (320 to 329 °F; 433 to 438 K) (anhydrous) 102–103 °C (monohydrate) |
1.080 g/mL (20 °C) | |
Chiral rotation ([α]D) | +140.7° (H2O, c = 10) |
Hazards | |
Safety data sheet (SDS) | External MSDS |
Related compounds | |
Related | Sucrose Lactose Trehalose Cellobiose |
Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa). |
Maltose ( /ˈmɔːltoʊs/ [2] or /ˈmɔːltoʊz/ [3] ), also known as maltobiose or malt sugar, is a disaccharide formed from two units of glucose joined with an α(1→4) bond. In the isomer isomaltose, the two glucose molecules are joined with an α(1→6) bond. Maltose is the two-unit member of the amylose homologous series, the key structural motif of starch. When beta-amylase breaks down starch, it removes two glucose units at a time, producing maltose. An example of this reaction is found in germinating seeds, which is why it was named after malt. [4] Unlike sucrose, it is a reducing sugar. [5]
Maltose was discovered by Augustin-Pierre Dubrunfaut, although this discovery was not widely accepted until it was confirmed in 1872 by Irish chemist and brewer Cornelius O'Sullivan. [5] [6] Its name comes from malt, combined with the suffix '-ose' which is used in names of sugars. [4]
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.[ citation needed ]
An isomer of maltose is isomaltose. This is similar to maltose but instead of a bond in the α(1→4) position, it is in the α(1→6) position, the same bond that is found at the branch points of glycogen and amylopectin.[ citation needed ]
Like glucose, maltose is a reducing sugar, because the ring of one of the two glucose units can open to present a free aldehyde group; the other one cannot because of the nature of the glycosidic bond. Maltose can be broken down to glucose by the maltase enzyme, which catalyses the hydrolysis of the glycosidic bond.[ citation needed ]
Maltose in aqueous solution exhibits mutarotation, because the α and β isomers that are formed by the different conformations of the anomeric carbon have different specific rotations, and in aqueous solutions, these two forms are in equilibrium. Maltose can easily be detected by the Woehlk test or Fearon's test on methylamine. [7]
It has a sweet taste, but is only about 30–60% as sweet as sugar, depending on the concentration. [8] A 10% solution of maltose is 35% as sweet as sucrose. [9]
Maltose is a malt component, a substance obtained when the grain is softened in water and germinates. It is also present in highly variable quantities in partially hydrolyzed starch products like maltodextrin, corn syrup and acid-thinned starch. [10]
Outside of plants, maltose is also (likely) found in sugarbag. [11]
In humans, maltose is broken down by various maltase enzymes, providing two glucose molecules that can be further processed: either broken down to provide energy, or stored as glycogen. The lack of the sucrase-isomaltase enzyme in humans causes sucrose intolerance, but complete maltose intolerance is extremely rare because there are four different maltase enzymes. [12]
Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and metabolism. Over the last decades of the 20th century, biochemistry has become successful at explaining living processes through these three disciplines. Almost all areas of the life sciences are being uncovered and developed through biochemical methodology and research. Biochemistry focuses on understanding the chemical basis which allows biological molecules to give rise to the processes that occur within living cells and between cells, in turn relating greatly to the understanding of tissues and organs, as well as organism structure and function. Biochemistry is closely related to molecular biology, which is the study of the molecular mechanisms of biological phenomena.
A carbohydrate is a biomolecule consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 and thus with the empirical formula Cm(H2O)n, which does not mean the H has covalent bonds with O. However, not all carbohydrates conform to this precise stoichiometric definition, nor are all chemicals that do conform to this definition automatically classified as carbohydrates.
A disaccharide is the sugar formed when two monosaccharides are joined by glycosidic linkage. Like monosaccharides, disaccharides are simple sugars soluble in water. Three common examples are sucrose, lactose, and maltose.
Glucose is a sugar with the molecular formula C6H12O6. Glucose is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. Glucose is mainly made by plants and most algae during photosynthesis from water and carbon dioxide, using energy from sunlight, where it is used to make cellulose in cell walls, the most abundant carbohydrate in the world.
Hydrolysis is any chemical reaction in which a molecule of water breaks one or more chemical bonds. The term is used broadly for substitution, elimination, and solvation reactions in which water is the nucleophile.
Monosaccharides, also called simple sugars, are the simplest forms of sugar and the most basic units (monomers) from which all carbohydrates are built.
Fructose, or fruit sugar, is a ketonic simple sugar found in many plants, where it is often bonded to glucose to form the disaccharide sucrose. It is one of the three dietary monosaccharides, along with glucose and galactose, that are absorbed by the gut directly into the blood of the portal vein during digestion. The liver then converts both fructose and galactose into glucose, so that dissolved glucose, known as blood sugar, is the only monosaccharide present in circulating blood.
A glycosidic bond or glycosidic linkage is a type of ether bond that joins a carbohydrate (sugar) molecule to another group, which may or may not be another carbohydrate.
Maltase is one type of alpha-glucosidase enzymes located in the brush border of the small intestine. This enzyme catalyzes the hydrolysis of disaccharide maltose into two simple sugars of glucose. Maltase is found in plants, bacteria, yeast, humans, and other vertebrates. It is thought to be synthesized by cells of the mucous membrane lining the intestinal wall.
In chemistry, a glycoside is a molecule in which a sugar is bound to another functional group via a glycosidic bond. Glycosides play numerous important roles in living organisms. Many plants store chemicals in the form of inactive glycosides. These can be activated by enzyme hydrolysis, which causes the sugar part to be broken off, making the chemical available for use. Many such plant glycosides are used as medications. Several species of Heliconius butterfly are capable of incorporating these plant compounds as a form of chemical defense against predators. In animals and humans, poisons are often bound to sugar molecules as part of their elimination from the body.
A reducing sugar is any sugar that is capable of acting as a reducing agent. In an alkaline solution, a reducing sugar forms some aldehyde or ketone, which allows it to act as a reducing agent, for example in Benedict's reagent. In such a reaction, the sugar becomes a carboxylic acid.
Trehalose is a sugar consisting of two molecules of glucose. It is also known as mycose or tremalose. Some bacteria, fungi, plants and invertebrate animals synthesize it as a source of energy, and to survive freezing and lack of water.
Carbohydrase is the name of a set of enzymes that catalyze 5 types of reactions, turning carbohydrates into simple sugars, from the large family of glycosidases.
In organic chemistry, the anomeric effect or Edward-Lemieux effect is a stereoelectronic effect that describes the tendency of heteroatomic substituents adjacent to a heteroatom within a cyclohexane ring to prefer the axial orientation instead of the less hindered equatorial orientation that would be expected from steric considerations. This effect was originally observed in pyranose rings by J. T. Edward in 1955 when studying carbohydrate chemistry.
β-Amylase is an enzyme with the systematic name 4-α-D-glucan maltohydrolase. It catalyses the following reaction:
Oligosaccharides and polysaccharides are an important class of polymeric carbohydrates found in virtually all living entities. Their structural features make their nomenclature challenging and their roles in living systems make their nomenclature important.
Isomaltooligosaccharide (IMO) is a mixture of short-chain carbohydrates which has a digestion-resistant property. IMO is found naturally in some foods, as well as being manufactured commercially. The raw material used for manufacturing IMO is starch, which is enzymatically converted into a mixture of isomaltooligosaccharides.
Trehalulose is a disaccharide made up of a molecule of fructose bound to a molecule of glucose. Like isomaltulose, it is a structural isomer of sucrose that is present in small quantities in honey. It makes up 50% of sugars in the honeydew of silverleaf whiteflies and is synthesised from sucrose by some bacteria, such as Protaminombacter rubrum. Because the anomeric carbon of the fructose moiety is not involved in the glycosidic bond, it is a reducing sugar.
Lacto-N-tetraose is a complex sugar found in human milk. It is one of the few characterized human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) and is enzymatically synthesized from the substrate lactose. It is biologically relevant in the early development of the infant gut flora.