Starch

• This is a polymer made of alpha glucose
• Starch is made by plants and is stored in various areas such as chloroplasts
• starch is how excess glucose is stored which can then be used as an energy source later on. It is compact and insoluble so does not effect the water potential of the cell
• One type of starch is amylose which has straight unbranched chains with 1:4 bonds that coil up in a compact spiral.
• the other type of starch is amylopectin which has branched chains with both 1:4 and 1:6 bonds that also coil up compactly.
• H and OH groups on the individual sugars are tucked inside the coils so that they can't form H bonds with water so it can't dissolve properly.
• Cl- is required for the hydrolysis of starch