A monosaccharide is a form of sugar that includes fructose
One of the three most prevalent natural monosaccharides is
fructose, also known as "fruit sugar." (Glucose and galactose are the
other two.) As its name suggests, fructose may be found in practically all
fruits, but it is also present in sugarcane, sugarbeets, and corn in commercial
quantities. The disaccharide sucrose, also referred to as ordinary sugar, is
created when glucose and fructose are combined.
Like all simple sugars, fructose
has a six-carbon linear chain containing hydroxyl and carbonyl groups that can
be used to describe its structure. However, the majority of it exists as two
hemiketal rings in both its crystalline form and in solution:
-D-fructopyranose* (top) and -D-fructofuranose* (bottom). It is mostly composed
of pyranose (70%), furanose (22%), and minor amounts of the linear and other
cyclic forms in aqueous solution.
The monosaccharide that is most soluble in water is
fructose. It dissolves in extremely little volumes of water, as seen in the
"Fast Facts" table. This characteristic, which contributes to its
hygroscopicity and humectancy, makes it challenging to crystallise from water.
Although German Nobel laureate Emil Fischer completed the
groundbreaking study on fructose and all other sugars known at the time from
1884 to 1894, it was French chemist Augustin-Pierre Dubrunfaut who made the
discovery of fructose in 1847. Fischer's achievements include explaining the
stereochemistry of those sugars and demonstrating the link between glucose,
fructose, and mannose.
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