What are monosaccharides ?

Explanation

The simplest type of carbohydrates are called monosaccharides.
Carbohydrates may be defined as optically active polyhydroxy aldehydes or ketones or the compounds which produce such units on hydrolysis: A carbohydrate that cannot be hydrolysed further to give simpler units of polyhydorxy aldehyde or ketone is called a monosaccharide. About 20 monosaccharides are known to occure in nature. Some common, examples are glucose, fructose, ribose, deoxyribose etc.