Section of a starch molecule © Siemens Stiftung 2016 CC BY-SA 4.0 international

Section of a starch molecule

Image

Chemical structural formula:
Section of a starch molecule showing the alpha-1,4 glycosidic bonds in amylose.

English, Spanish (CREA), German
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2017-10-11
Starch is a prominent example of plant polysaccharides. It has a soluble component (25%) and an insoluble component (75%). The soluble component, the amylose, forms long chains that coil up into an alpha-helix. By contrast, the insoluble component, the amylopectin, is highly branched with additional bonds between shorter chain sections. Amylose can be specifically detected using iodine. Iodine is deposited inside the alpha-helix of the starch molecule. This results in a complex that has a distinctive color ranging from deep blue, blue-violet, to black, depending on the iodine concentration.

Information and ideas:
Glycogen, the storage for carbohydrates in animals, is comparable in structure to amylopectin.
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Illustration
Biology; Chemistry
Grade 10 to 13
Middle/high school
Carbohydrate; Metabolism; Molecule; Nutrition; Molecular structure (chemistry); Nutrition
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© Siemens Stiftung 2016
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