Question
Question: What is the most abundant carbohydrate and its formula?...
What is the most abundant carbohydrate and its formula?
Solution
the most abundant carbohydrate is present in the cell wall of green plants. It is an insoluble and biodegradable carbohydrate. It is cellulose. It is used in the diet as a fibre supplement. It is made up of several units of D-glucose.
Complete Step By Step Answer:
Carbohydrates are the most abundant class of organic compounds found in living organisms. Their general formula is Cn(H2O)n . Carbohydrates are a major source of metabolic energy, both for plants and for animals that depend on plants for food.
The most abundant carbohydrate is cellulose. The formula of cellulose is (C6H10O5)n . It is a complex carbohydrate. It is chiral, tasteless and has no odour. It consists of a linear chain of several hundred to many thousands of β(1→4) linked D-glucose units. Cellulose is insoluble in water and most organic solvents. It is biodegradable. Cellulose is derived from D-glucose units. It is a straight-chain polymer. No coiling or branching is occurring in cellulose.
Cellulose is crystalline. It is an important structural component of the primary cell wall of green plants and many algal forms. Cotton fibres represent the purest natural form of cellulose, containing more than 90 of cellulose. It is used to produce paperboard and paper products. It helps as an additive in various food items and it is used in the production of rayon.
Note:
You might confuse between glucose and cellulose when it comes to being most abundant. No doubt glucose is involved in a great number of biochemical reactions in organisms but cellulose is present in the cell wall of the green plants and algae and so it can be considered most abundant. All carbohydrates consist of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms and are polyhydroxy aldehydes or ketones or are compounds that can be broken down to form such compounds.