The glucose enantiomer for life (D-glucose) is usually called dextrose

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The glucose enantiomer for life (D-glucose) is usually called dextrose

Summary: The glucose enantiomer most commonly used for experimental biology work is D-glucose. The most common name for D-glucose is dextrose. So if you cannot find glucose in your chemical cabinet or at your biosupply companies website, try searching for dextrose.

Article created: Oct 30, 2007
Article by: Jeremiah Faith

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The first time I encountered an experimental biology protocol requiring glucose, I went to the chemical room in our lab and couldn't find a bottle that said glucose. I thought this was odd, since the chemical room was shared by four labs and glucose is one of the most common chemicals used by biological laboratories (particularly labs that study bacteria).

Nonetheless, I decided to be a nice guy and order 500 grams or so for the lab. I looked for the chemical on the Fisher Scientific and VWR websites. Although, I found some glucose solutions and other glucose-like solutions, I was a little dismayed that I didn't have dozens of dry powdered glucose choices showing up as the top hits. I mean most chemicals you can buy at all kinds of different qualities (USP, ACS, etc...) from several vendors. Why wasn't one of the most important chemicals for maintaining life on the planet available in dry chemical form!?!

After a little internet searching and asking around, I learned that the glucose that is supplies energy to living systems is D-glucose. D-glucose is commonly referred to as dextrose. The mirror image, L-glucose, cannot be metabolized by cells. A quick search of Fisher Scientific for Dextrose will net you plenty of dry dextrose choices. And a return trip to my lab's chemical supply room proved my hunch that we should have glucose already - we did, it was just called dextrose.