maltosechemical compound

Lactose is one of the sugars (sucrose is another) found most commonly in human diets throughout the world; it composes about 5 percent or more of the milk of all mammals. Lactose consists of two aldohexoses—β-D-galactose and glucose—linked so that the aldehydo group at the anomeric carbon of glucose is free to react (see structural formula, in which the asterisk indicates...

any member of a class of enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis (splitting of a compound by addition of a water molecule) of starch into smaller carbohydrate molecules such as maltose (a molecule composed of two glucose molecules). Two categories of amylases, denoted alpha and beta, differ in the way they attack the bonds of the starch molecules.

The chemical reactions involved in digestion can be clarified by an account of the digestion of maltose sugar. Maltose is, technically, a double sugar, since it is composed of two molecules of the simple sugar glucose bonded together. The digestive enzyme maltase catalyzes a reaction in which a molecule of water is inserted at the point at which the two glucose units are linked, thereby...

...following photosynthesis in green plants, consists of one molecule of glucose and one of fructose; lactose (milk sugar), found in the milk of all mammals, consists of glucose and galactose; and maltose, a product of the breakdown of starches during digestion, consists of two molecules of glucose. Another important disaccharide, trehalose, which is found in the circulating fluid of many...

A disaccharide is a sugar that can be hydrolyzed to two monosaccharide units. Maltose, formed by the partial hydrolysis of starch, can be broken down into two glucose units. The glycosidic bond...

...called an α-1,4′-glycosidic linkage, or, more specifically (because the anomeric carbon is on glucose), an α-1,4′-glucosidic linkage. All animals synthesize the α-glucosidase enzyme needed to hydrolyze maltose to glucose for use as a food.

...by an account of the digestion of maltose sugar. Maltose is, technically, a double sugar, since it is composed of two molecules of the simple sugar glucose bonded together. The digestive enzyme maltase catalyzes a reaction in which a molecule of water is inserted at the point at which the two glucose units are linked, thereby disconnecting them, as illustrated below.

A disaccharide is a sugar that can be hydrolyzed to two monosaccharide units. Maltose, formed by the partial hydrolysis of starch, can be broken down into two glucose units. The glycosidic bond that links the two glucose units in maltose replaces a hydroxyl group in the axial (α) position on the anomeric carbon (C1) of the left glucose ring, and C1 is joined to the oxygen atom on...

A disaccharide is a sugar that can be hydrolyzed to two monosaccharide units. Maltose, formed by the partial hydrolysis of starch, can be broken down into two glucose units. The glycosidic bond that links the two glucose units in maltose replaces a hydroxyl group in the axial (α) position on the anomeric carbon (C1) of the left glucose ring, and C1 is joined to the oxygen atom on...

Disaccharides are a specialized type of glycoside in which the anomeric hydroxyl group of one sugar has combined with the hydroxyl group of a second sugar with the elimination of the elements of water. Although an enormous number of disaccharide structures are possible, only a limited number are of commercial or biological significance.

Dietary sugars include monosaccharides, which contain one sugar (glucose) unit, and disaccharides, which are made up of two sugar units linked together. In order to be utilized by an organism, all complex carbohydrates must be broken down into simple sugars, which, in most cases, are rapidly digested and absorbed. For example, even the freely soluble disaccharide sucrose must first be...