β-D-Glucose, MP Biomedicals™

β-D-Glucose is combined into glucosides, disaccharides, oligosaccharides, polysaccharides (cellulose and starch), and glycogen. It is utilized as a metabolic intermediate by cells for either aerobic or anaerobic respiration.

D-Glucose exists in two cyclic forms, α-D-glucose and β-D-glucose, based on the position of the substituent at the anomeric center.

• α-D-Glucose is the monomer unit in starch
• β-D-glucose is the monomer unit in cellulose
• When one of these anomers is added to solution, it undergoes reversible epimerization to the other via an open-chain form
• During epimerization, the specific rotation of the solution changes gradually until it reaches equilibrium
• The existence of multiple binding modes of this single monosaccharide has been studied as a model scaffold to design compounds with increased probability of ligand binding