hexose

A monosaccharide, or simple sugar, containing six carbon atoms in the molecule (C₆H₁₂O₆). The hexoses are by far the most abundant simple sugars and those most frequently found in food. Examples include the sugars glucose, fructose, and galactose.

Three aldohexoses, d-glucose, d-mannose, and d-galactose, are common in plants, either in the free state or as components of polysaccharide molecules. Other less important aldohexoses are d-idose, d-gulose, d-talose, d-allose, and d-altrose. The four ketohexoses are fructose, sorbose, allulose, and tagatose.

Almost all naturally-occurring polysaccharides are made up of hexose units.

Related category

• BIOCHEMISTRY

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