Glucose and fructose are found as examples of monosaccharides or simple sugars. They are also called monosaccharides because of the properties of six carbon atoms and the sugar being structural isomers of each other. The main difference between glucose and fructose is that glucose has an aldehyde functional group, and fructose has a ketone functional group. Glucose is found mainly in carbohydrates such as table sugar and starch. Another name for glucose is blood sugar or grape sugar. Glucose has a Pyrose ring structure.
It is one of the primary and preferred energy sources for the human body, mainly due to aldohexose. Foods such as fruits and vegetables are considered the primary sources of fructose. Glycemic index is found in fructose, but it is present in smaller amounts than glucose. Fructose is also found in cellular proteins. Fruit sugar, D-fructose fructose, also has other names. Fructose does not contain starch.
Most importantly, fructose is metabolised in the liver.
Definition Of Glucose and Fructose
Glucose is an aldohexose, also known as a monosaccharide.
It has 6 C atoms and is part of the aldehyde group, with the chemical formula C6H12O6.
D-glucose is the natural name for dextrose glucose, which mainly exists in either linear form or pyrose form.
Glucose is also known as aldohexose monosaccharide with a ubiquitous nature. It acts as the primary substrate in glycolysis in living tissues.
Augustin-Pierre Dubronfot, a French scientist, initially identified fructose in 1847, and William Alan Miller gave it the name fructose. Fructose is a simple ketonic monosaccharide found primarily in plants. Sucrose is a disaccharide linked to glucose in plants. Alternatively, it can be taken into the human body via the bloodstream after digestion.
The chemical formula of fructose is C6H12O6.
Fructose is odourless, pleasant to the taste, and comes in crystalline form.
It is sweeter than all other sugars and also more soluble.
It is found in fruits, flowers, trees, honey, berries and root vegetables.
It is also known as Levulose.
Properties of Glucose
Glucose | C6H12O6 |
Density | 1.54 g/cm³ |
Molecular Weight/ Molar Mass | 180.16 g/mol |
Boiling point | 527.1±50.0 °C at 760 mmHg |
Simple sugar | Monosaccharide |
Properties of Fructose
Glucose | C6H12O6 |
Density | 1.694 g/cm3 |
Molecular Weight/ Molar Mass | 180.156 g·mol−1 |
Melting point | 103 °C (217 °F; 376 K) |
Water solubility | ~4000 g/L (25 °C) |
Fructose Chair Structure
Fructose is primarily a cyclic or chair type of sugar, with a chair shape comparable to glucose. Fructose’s structure also has several disadvantages.
Fructose is predominantly a ketone functional group member with two carbon ring closure sites.
Fructose contains intramolecular hemiacetal.
The OH on the fifth carbon is connected to the carbon in the second position in its structure.
In addition, its five-membered ring has four carbons and one oxygen.
In a way, it forms the chiral carbon, where there are two arrangements of CH2OH and OH group.
Glucose Chair Structure
Glucose belongs to the carbohydrate family and has the chemical formula C6H12O6. It’s also known as aldohexose because it has an aldehyde group and six carbon atoms. These two types are ring (cyclic) and open-chain (acyclic). Glucose is an essential source of energy for many living species, and it is created during photosynthesis by plants and algae using water, sunshine, and carbon dioxide. It has six carbon atoms in its structure and four hydrogen bonds in the carbon bond. An OH group is also attached to the remaining positions and this structure with two single-bonded hydrogen bonds and one double-bonded carbon at the ends. Bayer first proposed the open-chain form of glucose, but Howarth first proposed the cyclic structure.
Compare Glucose And Fructose Chair Structures
Fructose is mostly made up of a five-membered ring with a six-carbon ring and a hexose ring.
Glucose is mostly made up of a six-membered ring, with the -OH group on the fourth carbon in the bottom projection.
Fructose has a structure comparable to that of a levorotatory monosaccharide where the plane polarised light rotates to the left.
Glucose binding is very different from fructose binding.
The structure of fructose has a 5-membered hemiacetal ring with a hexose, with the hemiketal ring being important for the long metabolic pathway and high reactivity.
Fructose is mainly sweeter than glucose because of its stereometric structure.
Apart from this, the configuration of D-fructose is also seen, whose final product is like D-glyceraldehyde of carbon.
Fructose is more soluble with ethyl alcohol than glucose, except that both form a purple ring with Molisch reagents.
Also, both provide Fehling’s solution with red precipitate. Both offer silver mirrors formed with Tollens Reagent.
If we look at both oxidation with bromine water, glucose gives gluconic acid, but fructose does not act. If both oxidations are done with nitric acid, we will get saccharic acid with glucose.
Conclusion
While both glucose and fructose offer advantages, fructose is commonly used to enhance the flavour of foods, energy drinks, chocolate milk, cereals, yoghurts, and many other low-calorie foods and beverages. It is used in a variety of medicines for both children and adults. Hypoglycemia, or very low blood sugar, is treated with glucose. Glucose is also employed to deliver carbohydrate calories to that person.