Which carbohydrate among the listed is a monosaccharide?

• A. Starch
• B. Glycogen
• C. Glucose
• D. Cellulose

Answer: (C)

Monosaccharides are the simplest carbohydrates, consisting of a single sugar unit. They can’t be broken down into smaller carbohydrate units by hydrolysis. Glucose is a monosaccharide—a hexose sugar that serves as the basic building block for larger carbohydrates.

The other options are polysaccharides: long chains of sugar units. Starch and glycogen are storage polysaccharides made of glucose, with alpha linkages that create accessible, energy-storing polymers. Cellulose is a structural polysaccharide in plants, also made of glucose but linked by beta bonds, giving rigidity and making it non-digestible for many organisms. Because they are polymers rather than single sugar units, they are not monosaccharides.