Maltose is a white crystalline sugar formed during digestion of starches. It is present in germinating grain and in a small proportion of corn syrup, and it forms on the partial hydrolysis of starch. Maltose is a disaccharide made up of two glucose molecules. It is an isomer of sucrose and lactose which means that it has the same chemical formula but differs from both in structure. It is used in alcohol production through a process called fermentation where maltose is converted to ethanol by yeast cells in the absence of oxygen. Maltose is used mainly as a fuel source in our body by an analogous process. In this process muscle cells convert glucose into lactic acid to obtain energy while the body operates under anaerobic conditions.
Lab name:
Common molecules
Sample provider:
Obtained courtesy of the Cambridge Structural Database
Reciprocal Net site software 0.9.1-50,
copyright (c) 2002-2009, The Trustees of Indiana University
Files and data presented via this software are property of their
respective owners.
Reciprocal Net is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation as part of
the National Science Digital Library project.
