Table of Contents

1 Basic ideas about molecular shape.- 1.1 Shapes of biopolymers.- 1.2 Conformational principles.- 1.3 Shapes in equilibrium.- 2 The building units.- 2.1 Pyranose (six membered) forms.- 2.2 Furanose (five membered) forms.- 2.3 Other forms.- 2.4 Conformation and configuration: isomers and derivatives.- 2.5 Sugar shapes in hydrolysis of carbohydrate chains.- 2.6 Prediction of shapes.- 2.6.1 Estimation of interaction free energies.- 2.6.2 Calculation of conformational energies.- 2.7 Natural building units.- 3 The linkages.- 3.1 Linkage structures and patterns.- 3.2 Linkage conformation.- 3.3 Chain conformation: order versus disorder.- 4 Simple carbohydrate chains of the periodic type.- 4.1 Conformational families.- 4.2 Occurrence, properties and function of the ribbon family.- 4.2.1 Extracellular carbohydrate composites.- 4.2.2 The plant cell wall.- 4.2.3 Carbohydrate sequences in plant cell walls.- 4.2.4 Ribbon sequences in other extracellular structures.- 4.3 Occurrence, properties and function of the hollow helix family.- 4.3.1 Energy reserve polysaccharides: starch and glycogen.- 4.3.2 Participation of hollow helices in fatty acid biosynthesis.- 4.3.3 Hollow helices with structural functions.- 4.4 Loosely jointed linkages and chains.- 5 More complex carbohydrate chains.- 5.1 Periodic chains with mixed linkages.- 5.2 Interrupted chain sequences.- 5.2.1 Carrageenans.- 5.2.2 Interrupted sequences in the general mechanism of gelation.- 5.2.3 Interrupted sequences in the plant cell wall.- 5.2.4 Interrupted sequences in carbohydrate chains of connective tissues.- 5.3 Aperiodic sequences.- 5.3.1 Mucous secretion.- 5.3.2 Carbohydrates on folded polypeptide chains: immunoglobulin IgG.- 5.3.3 Glycoproteins as antigenic determinants and 'recognition molecules'.- References.