Question

Why is the empirical formula not double that of the monosaccharides?

Answer 1

Just to retire this question....

`"the empirical formula is the simplest whole ratio..."`

Explanation:

...`"the empirical formula is the simplest whole ratio"` `"that defines constituent elements in a species..."`

And so we got a monosaccharide, `C_nH_(2n)O_n`...and CLEARLY the empirical formula of this beast is `CH_2O` given the definition....

And a disaccharide results from the condensation reaction of two monosaccharides to the give the disaccharide and WATER....

`2C_nH_(2n)O_n rarr C_(2n)H_(2n-2)O_(n-1)+H_2O`

And to use the obvious example, we could take glucose, `C_6H_12O_6`, whose dissacharide is sucrose, `C_12H_22O_11`...

`C_12H_22O_11-={2xxC_6H_12O_6}-H_2O`

...i.e. we conceive that water is LOST in the condensation reaction...and the empirical formula must be altered to be the same as the molecular formula...