What Is the Chemical Formula of Sugar

The chemical formula of sugar depends on what type of sugar you are talking about and what type of formula you need.  Table sugar  is the common name for a sugar known as sucrose. It is a type of disaccharide made from the combination of the monosaccharides glucose and fructose. The chemical or molecular formula for sucrose is C12H22O11, which means each molecule of sugar contains 12 carbon atoms, 22 hydrogen atoms and 11 oxygen atoms. The type of sugar called sucrose is also known as saccharose. It is a saccharide that is made in many different plants. Most table sugar comes from sugar beets or sugarcane. The purification process involves bleaching and crystallization to produce a sweet, odorless powder. The English chemist William Miller coined the name sucrose in 1857 by combining the French word sucre, which means sugar, with the -ose chemical suffix that is used for all sugars. Formulas for Different Sugars However, there are many different sugars besides sucrose. Other sugars and their chemical formulas include: Arabinose -  C5H10O5 Fructose -  C6H12O6 Galactose -  C6H12O6 Glucose -  C6H12O6 Lactose -  C12H22O11 Inositol -  C6H12O6 Mannose -  C6H12O6 Ribose -  C5H10O5 Trehalose -  C12H22O11   Xylose -  C5H10O5 Many sugars share the same chemical formula, so it is not a good way to distinguish between them. The ring structure, location and type of chemical bonds, and three-dimensional structure are used to distinguish between sugars.