Know the Chemical Formula of Sugar (2024)

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The chemical formula of sugar depends on what type of sugar you are talking about and what type of formula you need.Table sugaris the common name for a sugar known as sucrose. It is a type of disaccharide made from the combination of the monosaccharides glucose and fructose. The chemical or molecular formula for sucrose is C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁, which means each molecule of sugar contains 12 carbon atoms, 22 hydrogen atoms and 11 oxygen atoms.

The type of sugar called sucrose is also known as saccharose. It is a saccharide that is made in many different plants. Most table sugar comes from sugar beets or sugarcane. The purification process involves bleaching and crystallization to produce a sweet, odorless powder.

The English chemist William Miller coined the name sucrose in 1857 by combining the French word sucre, which means "sugar", with the -ose chemical suffix that is used for all sugars.

Formulas for Different Sugars

However, there are many different sugars besides sucrose.

Other sugars and their chemical formulas include:

Arabinose -C₅H₁₀O₅

Fructose -C₆H₁₂O₆

Galactose -C₆H₁₂O₆

Glucose -C₆H₁₂O₆

Lactose -C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁

Inositol -C₆H₁₂O₆

Mannose -C₆H₁₂O₆

Ribose -C₅H₁₀O₅

Trehalose -C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁

Xylose -C₅H₁₀O₅

Many sugars share the same chemical formula, so it is not a good way to distinguish between them. The ring structure, location and type of chemical bonds, and three-dimensional structure are used to distinguish between sugars.