Page 154 - The Manga Guide to Biochemistry
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What do the numbers mean iN α(1→4) and α(1→6)?
Since we’ve come this far, let’s take this opportunity to learn what the numbers
mean in the two types of bonds we discussed: α(1→4) and α(1→6).
Yeah, I was wondering about that, but I was kind of afraid to ask...
This may seem a little out of the blue, but...do you like baseball?
Um, I guess so. My dad is a big fan, so I see a lot of games on TV.
Numbering the bases on the field makes the game much easier to understand, right?
3rd 2nd 1st
base base base
Home
plate
If they weren’t numbered, it would make describing a game a lot trickier. For
instance, we’d have to call third base “the base to the catcher’s left.” And I don’t even
want to think about how we’d talk about a triple play!
It would make the announcer’s life difficult, that’s for sure.
We learned that glucose and fructose have six carbon atoms each, right?
Numbers have been assigned to each of those atoms just like the bases in
baseball!
140 Chapter 3
