Glucose Monitors

Glucose (Glc), a monosaccharide (or simple sugar), is the most important carbohydrate in biology. The cell uses it as a source of energy and metabolic intermediate. Glucose is one of the main products of photosynthesis and starts cellular respiration in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. more...

Home
Bath & Body
Dietary Supplements,...
Hair Care
Hair Removal
Health Care
Massage
Medical, Special Needs
Bathroom Safety
Braces, Supports
Hearing Assistance
Incontinence Aids
Mobility Equipment
Monitoring, Testing
Blood Pressure
Arm
Other
Wrist
Diabetes
Accu-Chek
Glucose Monitors
Lancets
Monitoring Kits
OneTouch
Other
Test Strips
Other Monitoring, Testing
Stethoscopes
Thermometers
Orthotics, Insoles
Other
Positioning Equipment
Respiratory Aids
Nail
Natural Therapies
Oral Care
Other Health & Beauty Items
Skin Care
Tattoos, Body Art
Vision Care
Weight Management
Wholesale Lots

Two isomers of the aldohexose sugars are known as glucose, only one of which (D-glucose) is biologically active. This form (D-glucose) is often referred to as dextrose (dextrose monohydrate), especially in the food industry. This article deals with the D-form of glucose. The mirror-image of the molecule, L-glucose, cannot be used by cells.

Structure

Glucose(C₆H₁₂O₆) contains six carbon atoms and an aldehyde group and is therefore referred to as an aldohexose. The glucose molecule can exist in an open-chain (acyclic) and ring (cyclic) form (in equilibrium), the latter being the result of an intramolecular reaction between the aldehyde C atom and the C-5 hydroxyl group to form an intramolecular hemiacetal. In water solution both forms are in equilibrium, and at pH 7 the cyclic one is the predominant. As the ring contains five carbon atoms and one oxygen atom, which resembles the structure of pyran, the cyclic form of glucose is also referred to as glucopyranose. In this ring, each carbon is linked to an hydroxyl side group with the exception of the fifth atom, which links to a sixth carbon atom outside the ring, forming a CH₂OH group.

Isomers

Aldohexose sugars have 4 chiral centers giving 2⁴ = 16 optical stereoisomers. These are split into two groups, L and D, with 8 sugars in each. Glucose is one of these sugars, and L and D-glucose are two of the stereoisomers. Only 7 of these are found in living organisms, of which D-glucose (Glu), D-galactose (Gal) and D-mannose (Man) are the most important. These eight isomers (including glucose itself) are all diastereoisomers in relation to each other and all belong to the D-series.

An additional asymmetric center at C-1 (called the anomeric carbon atom) is created when glucose cyclizes and two ring structures, called anomers, can be formed — α-glucose and β-glucose. They differ structurally in the orientation of the hydroxyl group linked to C-1 in the ring. When D-glucose is drawn as a Haworth projection, the designation α means that the hydroxyl group attached to C-1 is below the plane of the ring, β means it is above. The α and β forms interconvert over a timescale of hours in aqueous solution, to a final stable ratio of α:β 36:64, in a process called mutarotation.

Read more at Wikipedia.org