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Complex Carbohydrates are made up of two or more simple sugars linked together. The following carbohydrates are disaccharides. Disaccharides are compounds that contain a bond between carbon(1) of one sugar and a hydroxyl group at any position on the other sugar.
Lactose is a disaccharide that occurs naturally in both human and cow's milk. It is widely used in baking and in commercial infant-milk formulas.
Like cellobiose and maltose, lactose is a reducing sugar. It exhibits muta - rotation and is a 1,4'-beta-linked glycoside. Unlike cellobiose and maltose, however, lactose contains two dif~erent monosaccharide units. Acidic hydrolysis of lactose yields 1 equiv of D-glucose and 1 equiv of D-galactose; the two are joined by a beta-glycoside bond between C1 of galactose and C4 of glucose.
Update by Karl Harrison
(Molecule of the Month for
December 1996
)