Q.Starch is made up of two components. Name them and describe how they differ structurally.

Starch is not a single pure compound but a mixture of two distinct glucose polymers.

Amylose (roughly 15-20% of starch) is the unbranched component: a single, uninterrupted chain of D-glucose units, all joined by $\alpha$-1,4-glycosidic linkages (bonds from C1 of one glucose unit to C4 of the next). This uniform linkage pattern makes the amylose chain naturally coil up into a helical shape. …

Name the two components and describe each one's glycosidic-linkage pattern: uniform $\alpha$-1,4 linkage throughout gives an unbranched chain (amylose); adding oc …

Mixing up which component is branched -- amylopectin (with the '-pectin' ending suggestive of its more complex, branched structure) is the branc …