Glucose is a monosaccharide containing six carbon atoms and an aldehyde group, and is therefore an aldohexose. The glucose molecule can exist in an open-chain (acyclic) as well as ring (cyclic) form. The naturally occurring form of glucose is d-glucose, while its stereoisomer l-glucose is produced synthetically in comparatively small amounts and is less biologically active.
Carbohydrates are polyhydroxy aldehydes (aldoses) or polyhydroxy ketones (ketoses) composed of C, H and O, or form polyhydroxy aldehydes or ketones upon hydrolysis. Carbohydrates come in the form of monosaccharides, disaccharides, oligosaccharides and polysaccharides. The simplest sugars, monosaccharides and disaccharides, consist of one or two monosaccharide units. Oligosaccharides are generally classified as carbohydrates containing 3-10 monosaccharide units. Polysaccharides contain more than 10 monosaccharide units and can be quite large. Glucose is an aldose, the most important monosaccharide in the body, used by cells as fuel. Other aldohexoses are galactose and mannose, which form part of complex molecules. Fructose is a ketohexose sugar, while ribose is the most important aldose pentose sugar and a component of RNA.
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