Sucrose (Suc)

Sucrose is a molecule with nine stereocenters and many sites that are reactive or can be reactive. The molecule exists as a single isomer. In sucrose, the components glucose and fructose are linked via an ether bond between C1 on the glucosyl subunit and C2 on the fructosyl unit. The bond is called a glycosidic linkage. Glucose exists predominantly as two isomeric "pyranoses" (α and β), but only one of these forms links to the fructose. Fructose itself exists as a mixture of "furanoses", each of which having α and β isomers, but only one particular isomer links to the glucosyl unit. What is notable about sucrose is that, unlike most disaccharides, the glycosidic bond is formed between the reducing ends of both glucose and fructose, and not between the reducing end of one and the nonreducing end of the other. This linkage inhibits further bonding to other saccharide units.