Introduction to Glucose: Glucose, a rich source of energy for living organisms, is produced by the photosynthesis of water and carbon dioxide. Living organisms take in food and obtain energy by the chemical and mechanical breakdown of glucose. Glucose is a simplest carbohydrate, belongs to the monosaccharide category of sugars. More complex carbohydrates usually arise from the linked glucose units (Spencer et. al, 2010).
Chemical composition of glucose: Being the simplest form of sugars, glucose cannot be divided or broken down into smaller units. But it is chemically composed of some most important chemical elements which are Carbon (C), Hydrogen (H) and Oxygen (O). So, glucose is an organic molecule or hydrocarbon. Its general formula for representation is C6H12O6 (Spencer et. al, …show more content…
CH2OH C O OH C OH C HO O HO C C OH OH OH OH OH D – Glucopyranose (Ring Forms)
Properties of Glucose Structure: Glucose structure possess many individual properties like other chemical compounds, these properties are:
1. Optical activity
2. Chirality
3. Anomeric forms
4. Furanose and Pyranose forms
Description of these properties is given below:
a) Optical