glycoside, any of a wide variety of naturally occurring substances in which a carbohydrate portion, consisting of one or more sugars or a uronic acid (i.e., a sugar acid), is combined with a hydroxy compound. The hydroxy compound, usually a non-sugar entity (aglycon), such as a derivative of phenol or an alcohol, may also be another carbohydrate, as in cellulose, glycogen, or starch, which consist of many glucose units.
Many glycosides occur in plants, often as flower and fruit pigments; for example, anthocyanins.
Various medicines, condiments, and dyes from plants occur as glycosides; of great value are the heart-stimulating glycosides of Digitalis and Strophanthus, members of a group known as cardiac glycosides. Several antibiotics are glycosides (e.g., streptomycin). Saponins, widely distributed in plants, are glycosides that lower the surface tension of water; saponin solutions have been used as cleansing agents.
Glycosides derived from glucuronic acid (the uronic acid of glucose) and steroids are constituents of normal animal urine. Compounds (nucleosides) derived from the partial breakdown of nucleic acids are also glycosides.