I'm looking for a reducing sugar such as glucose or maltose (any reducing sugar will do) for some home chemistry experiments. Is there a readily available reducing sugar that I might source without contacting a chemical company? A simple "synthesis" of glucose from sucrose would work as well.
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1Glucose can be found in drug stores and does not require a recipe in some countries. – permeakra May 07 '13 at 02:38
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As permeakra mentions, glucose can be purchased pretty easily. It might be labeled as "dextrose".
Another commonly available is maltose (or malt sugar).
Sucrose (or table sugar) is not a reducing sugar, but one of its constituents (glucose) is. Glucose can be made from sucrose by heating with a little bit of acid to make invert sugar syrup. Invert sugar is approximately a 1:1 ratio of glucose to fructose, and only the glucose in this mixture is reducing. An example procedure can be found here:How does adding lemon juice to sugar make better caramel?. Honey is a naturally occurring invert sugar.
Ben Norris
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