glycoside

Condensation product of a sugar with any other radical involving the loss of the OH of the hemiacetal or hemiketal of the sugar, leaving the anomeric carbon as the link; thus, the condensation through the carbon with an alcohol, which loses its hydrogen on its hydroxyl group, yields an alcohol-g. (or a glycosido-alcohol); links with a purine or pyrimidine –NH– group yield glycosyl (or N-glycosyl) compounds.

- cardiac glycosides generic term for a large number of drugs with the capacity to increase the force of contraction of the failing heart. Examples include digitalis (foxglove) extracts as well as those obtained from other plant and animal sources.

- cyanogenic g. a g. capable of generating CN⁻ upon metabolism ( E.G., amygdalin).

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gly·co·side 'glī-kə-.sīd n any of numerous sugar derivatives that contain a nonsugar group attached through an oxygen or nitrogen bond and that on hydrolysis yield a sugar (as glucose)

gly·co·sid·ic .glī-kə-'sid-ik adj

gly·co·sid·i·cal·ly -i-k(ə-)lē adv

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n.

a compound formed by replacing the hydroxyl (-OH) group of a sugar by another group. (If the sugar is glucose the compound is known as a glucoside.) Glycosides found in plants include some pharmacologically important products (such as digitalis). Other plant glycosides are natural food toxins, present in cassava, almonds, and other plant products, and may yield hydrogen cyanide if the plant is not prepared properly before eating.

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gly·co·side (gliґko-sīd) any compound that contains a carbohydrate molecule (sugar), particularly any such natural product in plants, convertible, by hydrolytic cleavage, into sugar and a nonsugar component (aglycon), and named specifically for the sugar contained, as glucoside (glucose), pentoside (pentose), fructoside (fructose), etc.