Polysaccharides are considered to be polymers of monosaccharides containing ten or more monosaccharide residues. Polysaccharides have been given trivial names that reflect their origin. Two common examples are cellulose, a main component of the cell wall in plants, and starch, a name derived from the Anglo-Saxon stercan, meaning to stiffen.
To name a polysaccharide composed of a single type of monosaccharide, that is a homopolysaccharide, the ending “-ose” of the monosaccharide is replaced with “-an”. For example, a glucose polymer is named glucan, a mannose polymer is named mannan, and a galactose polymer is named galactan. When the glycosidic linkages and configurations of the monosaccharides are known, they may be included as a prefix to the name, with the notation for glycosidic linkages preceding the symbols designating the configuration. The following example will help illustrate this concept:
-Glucan</div>
A heteropolysaccharide is a polymer containing more than one kind of monosaccharide residue. The parent chain contains only one type of monosaccharide and should be listed last with the ending “-an”, and the other types of monosaccharides listed in alphabetical order as “glyco-” prefixes. When there is no parent chain, all different monosaccharide residues are to be listed alphabetically as “glyco-” prefixes and the name should end with “-glycan”. The following example will help illustrate this concept:
-galacto)-(1→4)-β--Glucan</div>