Trehalose (Double-sweet)

Trehalose is a simple head-to-head dimer of glucose:

i-4c715dec3951a05e0e34ac1f42b82792-trehalose.gif

Like a lot of sugars, it holds onto water like crazy; some plants use it as a protectant in dry conditions.

Molecular biologists also use it in PCR; apparently, it stabilizes the enzyme, while destabilizing the dsDNA produced by the reaction.

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I think you should check your stereochemistry. The ring on the right looks like L-glucose to me... looks like its wrong on Wikipedia too if thats where you got the structure.

Try building a molecular model of one ring and superimposing it on the other. They should match; they dont.

Carbohydrates are tricksy. I recently spotted 3 or 4 similar errors in the online catalog of a fairly major chemical supplier (all fixed now). Buyer beware.

What's the origin of the name of this carbohydrate? Trehalose, sounds like three halos, but there are really only two ;-) I have to assume it's not related to psicose although all these sugars are going to my head

db

By David Bradley (not verified) on 06 Jun 2007 #permalink