Polysaccharide And Hydrolysis

Superior Essays
To answer the question, it is first necessary to understand what a polysaccharide is and what hydrolysis is.

The four "building blocks of life" is a commonly used phrase that refers to four kinds of small molecules that are essential in the creation and formation of larger macromolecules that exist in every living organism. These four molecules consist of simple sugars, fatty acids, amino acids, and nucleotides. "Poly-" means "many", and "saccharide" means "sugar," so as the name suggests, a polysaccharide is a type of sugar. In fact, it is a polymer made up of chains of sugar monomers, also known as monosaccharides, and monosaccharides are simple sugars such as glucose, fructose, and galactose. Sugars are important because they make up carbohydrates
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In order to synthesize, or create, a polysaccharide, a molecule of water is removed from two or more monosaccharide sub-units. In removing a hydrogen molecule from one sub-unit and a hydroxyl group from another sub-unit, an ether bond is formed between the two sub-unit. At the same time, a water molecule is created and released. Condensation synthesis is a process that stores energy in a larger molecule. In order to release this energy, it is necessary to break the larger molecule into small sub-components. The opposite of condensation synthesis is therefore hydrolysis ("Hydrolysis and …show more content…
In contrast, hydrolysis releases energy, therefore it is an exergonic reaction (Citovsky, Lecture #8).

Now, there is a sufficient amount of information to approach at the question once again.

Choice A cannot be the solution for somewhat obvious reasons. If the problem states that the polysaccharide is composed of 828 glucose molecules, then total hydrolysis of the polysaccharide should produce 828 glucose molecules, as opposed to 827. Glucose molecules are not destroyed during hydrolysis, so this choice should make anyone question where that last glucose molecule went.

Choice B also makes very little sense. During the process of hydrolysis, it is necessary to use a water molecule to split a bond. 827 water molecules are needed to split the 827 bonds that exist between the 828 monosaccharides within the polysaccharide, but no water should be produced during hydrolysis. (In fact, the production of water molecules in a "water-splitting" reaction sounds a little counter-intuitive in and of itself.)

Choices D and E are also incorrect for reasons similar to that of choice B. Water is used in hydrolysis, but it certainly is not

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