Physical and Chemical properties of monosaccharide

A. Physical Properties:

• Generally crystalline solid.
• Have a high melting point, very soluble in water.
• More or less sweet.

B. Chemical properties:

• Have two sets of chemical properties.

a) that depend on -OH groups (Hydroxyl).

b) that depend on the ester group.

• In monosaccharides, esterification on C-1 C-5, or C-6 is found but in polymers, esterification on any position may be found.

E.g.: 3’-5’ diester of ribose which makes up the backbone structure of RNA.

• Esters formed from the derivative of the carbonyl group are more unstable than other sugar esters.
• Provide a suitable leaving group for transglycosylation reaction that leads to the synthesis of polysaccharides and other sugar derivatives.