Sucrose

Three disaccharides are important in nutrition: maltose, sucrose and lactose. All three have glucose as one of their single sugars.

Sucrose is the most common disaccharide and it contains glucose and fructose joined together by an alpha-1,2-glyccosidic link.

Sucrose is the chemical name for what is commonly called white sugar, table sugar, granulated sugar or simply sugar. Sucrose provides some of the natural sweetness, of honey, maple syrup, fruits and vegetables.

The carbonyl groups of both the glucose and the fructose molecule are involved in the glycosidic bond; thus, the configuration of each monosaccharide become fixed.

Sucrose can be hydrolyzed to glucose and fructose by heat and acid or by the enzymes invertase or sucrose.

Sucrose is found in many plants and is especially abundant in sugar cane and sugar beets. These plants can be crushed to produce a juice that is recessed to make a brown liquid called molasses.

The equimolar mixture of glucose and the fructose produced in this way is called invert sugar.

Production of inverts sugar is important during the formation of candies and jellies, as inverts sugar prevents unwanted or excessive crystallization of sucrose.

Manufacturers use a refining process to extract sucrose from the juices of sugar cane or sugar beets. Full refining removes impurities white sugar and powdered sugar are so highly refined that they are virtually 100 percent sucrose.  
Sucrose