Crystal structure of β-D,L-fructose

Abstract

The title compound, C6H12O6, was crystallized from an aqueous solution of equimolar mixture of D- and L-fructose (1,3,4,5,6-pentahydroxyhexan-2-one,arabino-hexulose or levulose), and it was confirmed that D-fructose (or L-fructose) formed β-pyranose with a2C5(or5C2) conformation. In the crystal, two O—H...O hydrogen bonds between the hydroxy groups at the C-1 and C-3 positions, and at the C-4 and C-5 positions connect homochiral molecules into a column along theaaxis. The columns are linked by other O—H...O hydrogen bonds between D- and L-fructose molecules, forming a three-dimensional network.