CID 5988

C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁

Sucrose

C 12
H 22
O 11

Ball-and-stick Stick Space-filling

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45 atoms, 46 single bonds.

IUPAC name: (2R,3R,4S,5S,6R)-2-[(2S,3S,4S,5R)-3,4-dihydroxy-2,5-bis(hydroxymethyl)oxolan-2-yl]oxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)oxane-3,4,5-triol
Molar mass: 342.297(39) g/mol
Atoms: 45
Polarity: polar
SMILES: C(C1C(C(C(C(O1)OC2(C(C(C(O2)CO)O)O)CO)O)O)O)O
InChIKey: CZMRCDWAGMRECN-UGDNZRGBSA-N
PubChem CID: 5988

Made of

C H O

Structural formula of sucrose. Each unlabelled corner is a carbon atom, and the 14 hydrogens on carbon are not drawn. Wedges come toward you, hashes go back. It shows which atoms are joined to which, not the shape. The model above shows the shape.

The white grains in a sugar bowl are sucrose, the compound OpenStax Biology calls table sugar. Each of its molecules is two smaller sugars fastened together, glucose and fructose, which makes it a disaccharide: a sugar built from two single-sugar units. OpenStax Biology names it the most common disaccharide. It is made of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen alone, as C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁, with a molar mass of 342.3 g/mol.

The two halves join in a dehydration reaction. A hydroxyl group, oxygen bonded to hydrogen, on one sugar combines with a hydrogen from the other, a water molecule leaves, and a covalent link called a glycosidic bond remains. Split that bond again and the pair falls back into glucose and fructose.

The IUPAC name, (2R,3R,4S,5S,6R)-2-[(2S,3S,4S,5R)-3,4-dihydroxy-2,5-bis(hydroxymethyl)oxolan-2-yl]oxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)oxane-3,4,5-triol, reads long but names the parts in order. Its “oxane” is the six-membered ring, its “oxolan” the five-membered one, and “triol” counts three hydroxyl groups on the larger ring.

Structure and bonding

The model draws 45 atoms and 46 bonds, every one single. In Ball-and-stick, two rings stand out. The larger holds five carbon atoms and one oxygen and is the glucose half. The smaller, four carbons and one oxygen, is the fructose half. A lone oxygen outside both rings bridges them, the glycosidic link between carbon 1 of glucose and carbon 2 of fructose.

At that bridge the C–O–C angle measures 111.4° in PubChem’s computed conformer, one calculated arrangement rather than a measured one. With Labels switched on, eight O–H groups show up around the edges of both rings. The Stick view draws bonds alone, leaving the ring outlines bare. Space-filling merges the spheres into one lumpy body, with hydrogens dotted over its surface.

What is drawn is also what is real: no double bonds, no charges, and HSDB (the Hazardous Substances Data Bank) records solutions neutral to litmus. OpenStax notes that a large molecule has no single central atom, so sucrose carries no one shape word. OpenStax also counts table sugar among solids of polar molecules, and its O–H groups meet OpenStax’s condition for hydrogen bonding.

Where it turns up

Sugar cane holds 15 to 20 per cent sucrose and sugar beet 10 to 17 per cent, on HSDB’s figures. Sorghum and the sugar maple supply it as well, so cane and beet are not the only crops. Each plant builds it from the products of photosynthesis, the process OpenStax Biology describes as storing the energy of sunlight in the covalent bonds of sugars. Mills extract the sugar with water, then evaporate and purify it with lime and carbon.

In a shop it wears several names; NIOSH, the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, lists granulated sugar, rock candy, table sugar and confectioner’s sugar among them. HSDB finds it in soft drinks, syrups, preserves, jams and confectionery. Drug makers use it to bind tablet granules and to coat finished tablets. Cosmetic formulas list it as a humectant, a substance that holds moisture, and a skin conditioner.

Why it matters

HSDB calls sucrose the most important industrial sugar and, traditionally, the standard sweetener for quality of taste and taste profile. Its uses reach past the table. Of the refined sugar deliveries HSDB records for 1976, only 35 per cent sweetened food and drink directly. The remaining 65 per cent went to industry, with beverages taking 22 per cent. Fermentation turns sucrose into ethanol, butanol, glycerol and citric acid, and detergent makers use it as an intermediate.

Dilute acid or invertase, an enzyme from yeast, splits it back into glucose and fructose, and HSDB lists sucrose as a source of invert sugar. Sucrose in water has a specific rotation, how far its solution turns polarised light, of +66.37 at 20 °C. HSDB records that the rotation falls and turns negative once hydrolysis, the split by water, is complete.

Animals and other organisms that cannot photosynthesise rely on sugars made by plants, algae and cyanobacteria, OpenStax Biology notes. Once sucrose is split, the glucose it yields releases energy in cellular respiration, and OpenStax Biology says that energy helps make adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

Properties

Properties of sucrose Molar mass summed from IUPAC/CIAAW 2024 standard atomic weights; formula, atom and bond counts and PubChem's molecular weight from PubChem CID 5988.
Property	Value	Unit	Source
Molecular formula (Hill order)	C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁
Molar mass	342.297(39) g/mol	g/mol	IUPAC/CIAAW 2024
Carbon atoms	12
Hydrogen atoms	22
Oxygen atoms	11
Bonds	46
PubChem molecular weight	342.3 g/mol	g/mol	PubChem

Safety

Ordinary sugar is essentially harmless: 95.7% of reports under the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) find it meets no hazard criteria. The US Food and Drug Administration affirms it as generally recognised as safe in food, and the International Chemical Safety Card warns that long-term exposure may cause tooth decay. In factories, fine airborne sugar dust can explode and irritates eyes and airways; the NIOSH card and the PubChem Laboratory Chemical Safety Summary below cover that workplace case.

Questions

What are the two rings in a sucrose molecule?

The six-membered ring comes from glucose and the five-membered ring from fructose. OpenStax Biology says five- and six-carbon sugars sit in equilibrium between their linear and ring forms, and that fructose forms a five-membered ring where glucose forms a six-membered one. HSDB records that sucrose does not show mutarotation, a slow change in how a sugar solution turns polarised light.

Is table sugar made of molecules or ions?

Molecules. OpenStax Chemistry names sucrose alongside ice and iodine as a molecular solid, one built from neutral molecules rather than charged ions. PubChem's record carries no formal charge on any atom, and HSDB notes that sugar solutions are neutral to litmus. A grain of sugar is therefore a crystal of whole C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁ units, stacked as monoclinic crystals, not a lattice of ions like table salt.

Why does sugar melt at a higher temperature than ice?

OpenStax groups both as solids of polar molecules and gives ice 0 °C against 185 °C for table sugar. A sucrose molecule is far larger than a water molecule, and OpenStax states that larger molecules feel stronger dispersion forces. The melt is not clean, though. HSDB records decomposition between 160 and 186 °C, and the NIOSH card notes that it decomposes.

How much sugar can dissolve in water?

A great deal. HSDB reports that one gram of sucrose dissolves in half a millilitre of water, while the same gram needs about 100 millilitres of methanol and 170 millilitres of ethanol. In ethyl ether it does not dissolve at all. Undissolved crystals sink, since HSDB puts the density at 1.5805 g/cm³ at 17 °C, well above that of water.

Made of the same elements

C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁ Lactose 45 atoms, 46 single bonds.
C₁₃H₁₈O₂ Ibuprofen 33 atoms, 33 bonds.
C₁₀H₂₀O Menthol 31 atoms, 31 single bonds.
C₁₈H₂₄O₂ Estradiol 44 atoms, 47 bonds.
C₁₅H₁₆O₂ Bisphenol A 33 atoms, 34 bonds.
C₁₄H₁₄O₃ Naproxen 31 atoms, 32 bonds.
C₆H₁₂O₆ Fructose 24 atoms, 24 single bonds.
C₆H₁₂O₆ Glucose 24 atoms, 24 single bonds.

All 51 compounds made of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen

C₁₉H₂₈O₂ Testosterone 49 atoms, 52 bonds.
C₂₁H₃₀O₅ Cortisol 56 atoms, 59 bonds.
C₁₆H₃₂O₂ Palmitic acid 50 atoms, 49 bonds.
C₂₀H₁₄O₄ Phenolphthalein 38 atoms, 41 bonds.
C₉H₈O₄ Aspirin 21 atoms, 21 bonds.
C₆H₈O₇ Citric acid 21 atoms, 20 bonds.
C₆H₈O₆ Ascorbic acid 20 atoms, 20 bonds.
C₈H₈O₃ Methyl salicylate 19 atoms, 19 bonds.
C₂₁H₃₀O₂ Progesterone 53 atoms, 56 bonds.
C₈H₈O₃ Vanillin 19 atoms, 19 bonds.
C₁₈H₃₄O₂ Oleic acid 54 atoms, 53 bonds.
C₇H₆O₃ Salicylic acid 16 atoms, 16 bonds.
C₄H₆O₆ Tartaric acid 16 atoms, 15 bonds.
C₄H₉OH 1-Butanol 15 atoms, 14 single bonds.
C₆H₅COOH Benzoic acid 15 atoms, 15 bonds.
C₂H₅OC₂H₅ Diethyl ether 15 atoms, 14 single bonds.
C₄H₆O₅ Malic acid 15 atoms, 14 bonds.
C₆H₅CHO Benzaldehyde 14 atoms, 14 bonds.
C₃H₇COOH Butyric acid 14 atoms, 13 bonds.
CH₃COOC₂H₅ Ethyl acetate 14 atoms, 13 bonds.
C₃H₈O₃ Glycerol 14 atoms, 13 single bonds.
C₄H₈O Butanone 13 atoms, 12 bonds.
C₆H₅OH Phenol 13 atoms, 13 bonds.
C₃H₈O₂ Propylene glycol 13 atoms, 12 single bonds.
C₃H₇OH 1-Propanol 12 atoms, 11 single bonds.
C₃H₈O Isopropyl alcohol 12 atoms, 11 single bonds.
C₃H₆O₃ Lactic acid 12 atoms, 11 bonds.
C₂H₅COOH Propionic acid 11 atoms, 10 bonds.
C₃H₆O Acetone 10 atoms, 9 bonds.
C₂H₆O₂ Ethylene glycol 10 atoms, 9 single bonds.
CH₃OCH₃ Dimethyl ether 9 atoms, 8 single bonds.
C₂H₅OH Ethanol 9 atoms, 8 single bonds.
C₂H₄O₃ Glycolic acid 9 atoms, 8 bonds.
CH₃COOH Acetic acid 8 atoms, 7 bonds.
H₂C₂O₄ Oxalic acid 8 atoms, 7 bonds.
CH₃CHO Acetaldehyde 7 atoms, 6 bonds.
C₂H₄O Ethylene oxide 7 atoms, 7 single bonds.
H₂CO₃ Carbonic acid 6 atoms, 5 bonds.
CH₃OH Methanol 6 atoms, 5 single bonds.
HCOOH Formic acid 5 atoms, 4 bonds.
CH₂O Formaldehyde 4 atoms, 3 bonds.
C₂₇H₄₄O Cholecalciferol 72 atoms, 74 bonds.
C₂₇H₄₆O Cholesterol 74 atoms, 77 bonds.