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"The Economic Importance of Polysaccharides is Dependant on Their Chemical Structure" Polysaccharides are long, chain carbohydrates therefore they are insoluble in water. They contain thousands of glucose units, joined together by alpha or beta glycosidic bonds. A condensation reaction can occur when more than two monosaccharides are joined together to produce a polysaccharide, and as a result of this a water molecule is formed. However, adding water or acid can reverse this reaction, this is known as hydrolysis. The most common sugar found in polysaccharides is glucose. The diagram above shows two monosaccharides joining together to form a disaccharide, and this process is the same for polysaccharides. The three main examples of polysaccharides are starch, glycogen and cellulose. Starch Starch is made up of amylose and amylopectin. Amylose, is made up of several thousand glucose residues, which are attached by alpha 1,4 - glycosidic bonds. However, amylopectin consists mainly of alpha 1,4 -...

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