Don't know how we got into the discussions on sugar.
Well, looked it up, and here is what I found, only listing the ones we learnt before in Biology.
Monosaccharides are the basic sugars:
1. Glucose
2. Fructose
3. Galactose
4. (Xylose)
5. (Ribose)
Disaccharides are the simplest polysaccharides:
1. Sucrose = glucose + fructose
2. Lactose = glucose + galactose
3. Maltose = glucose + glucose
One thing to note. We can only ever find D-glucose inside living organisms. However, whenever we try to produce glucose through chemical process other than our own biological process, an equal number of D-glucose and L-glucose will be produced, and since both exhibit the same chemical properties, they will react similarly; but our enzymes are chiral molecules as well, that means only chiral substrate can fit into the chiral enzymes.
Isn't it amazing? The favouritism of one enantiomer over another exhibits an supernatural origin of life.
