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Atomic Structure

Name

Institution
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Atomic Structure

Glucose

Glucose (C6H12O6) is a pure organic compound composed of carbon, hydrogen, and

oxygen elements. Glucose cannot be separated by simple methods since it is a compound and not

a mixture.

Importance of Glucose

1. Starch-Derived Sweeteners

Starch from plants such as maize, cassava, and wheat is hydrolyzed by acid or enzymes

to form aldohexose, sold as glucose syrup. (M.C. Yebra-Biurrun, 2005).

Enzyme isomerase is used to convert glucose into fructose, a widely used

monosaccharide sweetener (M.C. Yebra-Biurrun, 2005).

2. Carbohydrates

Glucose is a universal building block for carbohydrates, and therefore it is majorly used

by most living cells as a source of energy and for the production of new cells. This

critical role of glucose explains the reduction of glucose in a pool of saccharides in the

lake water compared to the abundance of glucose in phytoplankton. (N.O.G. Jorgensen,

2009).

3. Enzymes used in Food Industry

Glucose isomerase (GI) is very important in the food industry because it is used to

manufacture fructose-rich corn syrup. (Rachana Singh, Shweta Sachan, 2019).

Carbon
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Carbon is a non-metallic, tetravalent chemical element with atomic number 6 in the

periodic table. It belongs to group 14 of the periodic table and has 4 electrons available to

form chemical bonds with other elements.

Valence electrons and orbitals of carbon

Valence electrons are the total number of electrons present in the outermost orbital.

Carbon has 4 electrons in the outer orbital. Valency refers to the number of electrons an

electron can lose or gain during bond formation to form a strong electronic configuration.

Carbon can reach its stable state by either gaining 4 electrons or losing the outermost 4

electrons making its valency be 4(tetravalency).

(Carbon - Electron Configuration Electron Shell Valence Electron Carbon PNG PNG image

on June 4, 2018, 4:02)

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References

Yebra-Biurrun, M. C., Cancela-Pérez, S., & Moreno-Cid-Barinaga, A. (2005). Coupling

continuous ultrasound-assisted extraction, preconcentration, and flame atomic

absorption spectrometric detection for the determination of cadmium and lead in

mussel samples. Analytica chimica acta, 533(1), 51-56.

Jorgensen, N. O., Brandt, K. K., Nybroe, O., & Hansen, M. (2009). Delftia lacustris sp. nov.,

a peptidoglycan-degrading bacterium from freshwater, and emended description of

Delftia tsuruhatensis as a peptidoglycan-degrading bacterium. International journal

of systematic and evolutionary microbiology, 59(9), 2195-2199.

Singh, R., Singh, A., & Sachan, S. (2019). Enzymes used in the food industry: Friends or

foes? In Enzymes in food biotechnology (pp. 827-843). Academic Press.