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Bonds Glucose Energy Branch Bonding Side Hydrogen Storage

Front Relate structural properties to the functions of glycogen wrt solubility, size, bonding and presence of side chains.
Back Solubility & Size
  • Insoluble - does not affect water potential & does not cause osmotic swell
  • Too large of a molecule, overcomes water's hydrogen bonds attempting to separate the molecules (up to 60000 glucose molecules)
  • Makes it good for storage - stays inside animal cells without dissolving into the system
  • Many glucose units stored in one molecule - more energy dense than storing them separately



Bonding & Side chains
  • 1,4 glycosidic bonds that cause a helical structure (reinforced by hydrogen bonds between -OH groups between neighboring monomers) due to the bond angle and every ~10C a 1,6 glycosidic bond branch - compact energy storage compared to straight chain
  • Every ~10C branch - highly branched structure - lots of branch endings for enzymes to hydrolyse for quick glucose access, more branched than starch because animals are more metabolically active and need more energy more quickly

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