Amylopectin
Encyclopedia : A : AM : AMY : Amylopectin
Amylopectin (CAS# 9037-22-3) is a highly branched polymer of glucose found in plants. It is one of the two components of starch, the other being amylose. It is insoluble in water.
Glucose units are linked in a linear way with α(1→4) bonds. Branching takes place with α(1→6) bonds occurring every 24 to 30 glucose units.
Its counterpart in animals is glycogen which has the same composition and structure, but with more extensive branching that occurs every 8 to 12 glucose units.
Starch is made of about 80% amylopectin. Amylopectin is highly branched, being formed of 2,000 to 200,000 glucose units. Its inner chains are formed of 20-24 glucose subunits. The glucose residues are linked through alpha-1,4 glycosidic linkages.
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.