# Sucrose

**Sucrose** (C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁) is a nonreducing disaccharide composed of one glucose and one fructose unit joined through their anomeric carbons; it is ordinary table sugar, obtained commercially from sugarcane and sugar beet.<sup>[1](https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/sucrose)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://openstax.org/books/organic-chemistry/pages/25-8-disaccharides)</sup> Its CAS Registry Number is 57-50-1, and it is also known as saccharose, cane sugar, and beet sugar.<sup>[3](https://www.hfpappexternal.fda.gov/scripts/fdcc/index.cfm?id=SUCROSE&set=FoodSubstances)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[4](https://webbook.nist.gov/cgi/cbook.cgi?ID=C57501&Mask=6C)</sup>

| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Formula and mass | C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁; molecular weight 342.30 g/mol<sup>[1](https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/sucrose)</sup> |
| Structure | α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→2)-β-D-fructofuranoside: C1 of glucose linked through oxygen to C2 of fructose<sup>[5](https://www.mendeleev.com/compounds/sucrose.html)</sup> |
| Reducing behavior | Nonreducing sugar; does not undergo mutarotation because both anomeric carbons are locked in the glycosidic bond<sup>[2](https://openstax.org/books/organic-chemistry/pages/25-8-disaccharides)</sup> |
| Hydrolysis | Yields 1 equivalent each of glucose and fructose; specific rotation changes from [α]D = +66.5 to −22.0, the basis of the name invert sugar<sup>[2](https://openstax.org/books/organic-chemistry/pages/25-8-disaccharides)</sup> |
| Human digestion | Cleaved by the sucrase domain of brush-border sucrase-isomaltase in the small intestine<sup>[6](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10041990/)</sup> |
| Commercial sources | Sugar cane (20% sucrose by weight) and sugar beets (15% by weight)<sup>[2](https://openstax.org/books/organic-chemistry/pages/25-8-disaccharides)</sup> |
| Thermal behavior | Melts at 185.5 °C; melting range 320 to 367 °F with decomposition<sup>[7](https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/SACCHAROSE)</sup> |
| Plant transport | The main form of carbon carried in the phloem from source leaves to sink organs<sup>[8](https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-arplant-070721-083240)</sup> |

## Structure and bonding

Sucrose is a glycosyl glycoside formed by glucose and fructose units joined by an acetal oxygen bridge from the hemiacetal of glucose to the hemiketal of the fructose.<sup>[1](https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/sucrose)</sup> The linkage is written α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→2)-β-D-fructofuranoside: carbon 1 of the glucose unit connects through oxygen to carbon 2 of the fructose unit.<sup>[5](https://www.mendeleev.com/compounds/sucrose.html)</sup> After the two units have joined, their atoms form a single sucrose molecule; sucrose is a distinct compound rather than a blend of uncombined glucose and fructose.<sup>[5](https://www.mendeleev.com/compounds/sucrose.html)</sup>

**Nonreducing character.** The glycosidic bond joins the [anomeric centers](https://www.edgepedia.org/anomeric-center) of both monosaccharide units, so neither remains as a free hemiacetal or hemiketal that can equilibrate with a free carbonyl form.<sup>[5](https://www.mendeleev.com/compounds/sucrose.html)</sup> This is why sucrose, unlike most other disaccharides, is not a reducing sugar and does not undergo mutarotation, the spontaneous change in optical rotation shown by sugars with a free anomeric carbon.<sup>[2](https://openstax.org/books/organic-chemistry/pages/25-8-disaccharides)</sup>

## Hydrolysis and invert sugar

Hydrolysis adds the elements of water across the glycosidic bond and can be catalyzed by acid or by enzymes such as sucrase and invertase.<sup>[5](https://www.mendeleev.com/compounds/sucrose.html)</sup> The overall change is sucrose + H₂O → glucose + fructose.<sup>[5](https://www.mendeleev.com/compounds/sucrose.html)</sup> Honeybees carry invertases that catalyze this hydrolysis, and honey is primarily a mixture of glucose, fructose, and sucrose.<sup>[2](https://openstax.org/books/organic-chemistry/pages/25-8-disaccharides)</sup>

The reaction is historically called inversion because the sign of optical rotation changes during hydrolysis: sucrose has [α]D = +66.5, while the resulting 1:1 glucose/fructose mixture has [α]D = −22.0.<sup>[2](https://openstax.org/books/organic-chemistry/pages/25-8-disaccharides)</sup> This equimolar mixture is invert sugar, a product also made industrially by hydrolyzing sucrose.<sup>[9](https://www.fao.org/4/W6530E/W6530E.pdf)</sup> In confectionery, invert sugar inhibits sucrose crystallization and raises the total sugar concentration of a mixture.<sup>[10](https://www.fao.org/4/x5434e/x5434e0a.htm)</sup>

## Digestion in humans

Dietary sucrose must be split into monosaccharides before absorption. The membrane-bound sucrase-isomaltase (SI) complex, anchored to the brush border of the small intestine, carries a sucrase domain that cleaves the α-1,2-glycosidic linkage of sucrose to release glucose and fructose; in humans SI accounts for almost all intestinal sucrase activity.<sup>[6](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10041990/)</sup> The released monosaccharides are then transported out of the lumen by carriers including SGLT-1, GLUT-2, and GLUT-5.<sup>[11](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3955999/)</sup>

Genetic variants that abolish SI function cause [congenital sucrase-isomaltase deficiency](https://www.edgepedia.org/congenital-sucrase-isomaltase-deficiency) (CSID), in which undigested sucrose and starch components pass into the lower gut, raising osmotic pressure and feeding gut bacteria; symptoms include stomach pain, flatulence, and diarrhea, generally appearing when children begin eating sucrose-containing foods.<sup>[6](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10041990/)</sup> An Arctic-specific loss-of-function variant, c.273_274delAG, is common in [Greenlandic Inuit](https://www.edgepedia.org/greenlandic-inuit) and other Arctic populations, while the variants causing CSID are rare elsewhere.<sup>[6](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10041990/)</sup> Enzyme replacement with sacrosidase, a sucrose-hydrolyzing enzyme produced by *Saccharomyces cerevisiae*, has been suggested as an effective treatment.<sup>[12](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9099680/)</sup>

## Sucrose in plants

Sucrose is one of the main products of photosynthesis and the most common form in which carbohydrate moves through plants.<sup>[13](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470015902.a0021259.pub2)</sup> It is transported from sources, the mature leaves, to sinks such as roots, stems, fruits, and seeds through the phloem tissues in veins.<sup>[8](https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-arplant-070721-083240)</sup> In many herbaceous crop species, loading follows an apoplasmic route: a SWEET-family transporter first effluxes sucrose to the cell wall, and a second transporter of the SUT/SUC family takes it up into phloem companion cells or sieve elements.<sup>[8](https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-arplant-070721-083240)</sup> Long-distance movement through the sieve elements is driven by a hydrostatic pressure gradient that produces mass flow of water and nutrients in the phloem sap.<sup>[14](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1399-3054.2006.00654.x)</sup>

In sink organs, sucrose exits the phloem either apoplasmically or symplasmically through plasmodesmata into storage cells, and its utilization there supports growth and reserve storage.<sup>[8](https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-arplant-070721-083240)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[13](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470015902.a0021259.pub2)</sup> The sucrose content of a plant part reflects the balance between supply from photosynthesis and demand from growth, nutrient assimilation, and storage. Trehalose-6-phosphate, an intermediate of trehalose synthesis, acts as a signal of sucrose availability that coordinates photoassimilate partitioning in leaves with sucrose use in sinks.<sup>[13](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470015902.a0021259.pub2)</sup> Environmental stresses alter these relationships: in potato tubers, osmotic stress from drought promotes sucrose biosynthesis instead of starch biosynthesis, through induction of sucrose-phosphate synthase and inhibition of ADP glucose pyrophosphorylase.<sup>[15](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3721551/)</sup>

## Production and food uses

Sucrose is obtained by crystallization from sugar cane or sugar beet juice that has been extracted by pressing or diffusion, then clarified and evaporated; under US regulation it may be used in food with no limitation other than current good manufacturing practice.<sup>[16](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/21/184.1854)</sup> The white beet sugar process runs from delivery and washing of the beets through slicing, hot-water diffusion extraction, purification with milk of lime and carbon dioxide, evaporation to a 65–70% sucrose syrup, crystallization, centrifugation, drying, and packaging.<sup>[17](https://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/tci/docs/AH1-%28eng%29Sugar%20beet%20white%20sugar.pdf)</sup> One ton of sugar beet yields about 160 kg of sugar, together with wet pulp and molasses as by-products.<sup>[17](https://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/tci/docs/AH1-%28eng%29Sugar%20beet%20white%20sugar.pdf)</sup>

In food, sucrose serves as a nutritive sweetener in beverages, baked goods, confections, and many processed foods.<sup>[3](https://www.hfpappexternal.fda.gov/scripts/fdcc/index.cfm?id=SUCROSE&set=FoodSubstances)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[18](https://www.fda.gov/food/food-additives-and-gras-ingredients-information-consumers/types-food-ingredients)</sup> On the sweetness scale where sucrose is 1.00, fructose is nearly twice as sweet and glucose about 0.75.<sup>[19](https://openstax.org/books/organic-chemistry/pages/25-chemistry-matters-sweetness)</sup> Heating sucrose above roughly 300 °F melts it, and it then begins to caramelize; the decomposition of sugars under heat and acid or base catalysis produces the volatile compounds of caramel aroma and the brown compounds of caramel color.<sup>[20](https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/food-science/food-chemistry)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[21](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0308814694901880)</sup> Controlling sucrose crystallization matters in products such as caramel, where the sucrose-to-corn-syrup ratio, corn syrup type, and water content determine hardness, tensile strength, and cold flow.<sup>[22](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0260877414005172)</sup>

## References

1. [Sucrose, CID 5988, PubChem](https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/sucrose)
2. [25.8 Disaccharides, Organic Chemistry, OpenStax](https://openstax.org/books/organic-chemistry/pages/25-8-disaccharides)
3. [Substances Added to Food: SUCROSE, FDA](https://www.hfpappexternal.fda.gov/scripts/fdcc/index.cfm?id=SUCROSE&set=FoodSubstances)
4. [Sucrose, NIST Chemistry WebBook](https://webbook.nist.gov/cgi/cbook.cgi?ID=C57501&Mask=6C)
5. [Sucrose, Mendeleev](https://www.mendeleev.com/compounds/sucrose.html)
6. [Genetic Loss of Sucrase-Isomaltase Function, PMC](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10041990/)
7. [SACCHAROSE, PubChem (CAMEO data)](https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/SACCHAROSE)
8. [Braun, D. M. (2022). Phloem Loading and Unloading of Sucrose, Annual Review of Plant Biology 73:553–584](https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-arplant-070721-083240)
9. [Agribusiness Handbooks: Sugar, FAO](https://www.fao.org/4/W6530E/W6530E.pdf)
10. [Sugar confectionery, FAO](https://www.fao.org/4/x5434e/x5434e0a.htm)
11. [13C-Breath Tests for Sucrose Digestion in CSID Patients, PMC](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3955999/)
12. [Carbohydrate Maldigestion and Intolerance, PMC](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9099680/)
13. [Sucrose Metabolism, Wiley Encyclopedia of Life Sciences](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470015902.a0021259.pub2)
14. [Sucrose transport from source to sink seeds in rice, Physiologia Plantarum](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1399-3054.2006.00654.x)
15. [Source-to-sink transport of sugar and regulation by environmental factors, PMC](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3721551/)
16. [21 CFR § 184.1854 Sucrose, Cornell LII](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/21/184.1854)
17. [Sugar beet white sugar, FAO Agribusiness Handbook](https://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/tci/docs/AH1-%28eng%29Sugar%20beet%20white%20sugar.pdf)
18. [Types of Food Ingredients, FDA](https://www.fda.gov/food/food-additives-and-gras-ingredients-information-consumers/types-food-ingredients)
19. [25 Chemistry Matters: Sweetness, OpenStax](https://openstax.org/books/organic-chemistry/pages/25-chemistry-matters-sweetness)
20. [Food Chemistry overview, ScienceDirect Topics](https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/food-science/food-chemistry)
21. [Kroh, L. W. (1994). Caramelisation in food and beverages, Food Chemistry 51:373–379](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0308814694901880)
22. [Sucrose crystallization in caramel, Journal of Food Engineering](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0260877414005172)

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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Physical world and mathematics › Chemistry › Organic substances › Alcohols, ethers, and organooxygen groups › Alcohols and polyols › Alcohols — overview and class reference*

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