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Chemistry - Hydrolysis of disaccharides

Hydrolysis of disaccharides

The sweet taste of honey is due mainly to the presence of fructose. The
nectar of flowers is largely sucrose. The honey bee has enzymes that can
convert the sucrose into a mixture of glucose and fructose according to the
hydrolysis reaction:

The hydrolysis reaction involves the addition of water across the ether
link, resulting in the production of two hydroxy groups and the release of
the monosaccharide units.

The production of alcohol, ethanol, by fermentation, involves the
hydrolysis of maltose from germinating grain. Yeast provides the enzyme
maltase which catalyses the reaction:

This hydrolysis reaction also involves the reaction of water across the
ether link, resulting in the production of two hydroxy groups and the
release of the monosaccharide units.

The reaction can also be represented by the equation:

Ethanol is then produced from the fermentation of glucose according to the
reaction:

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