Question

Acidic or enzymatic hydrolysis of sucrose to give an equimolar mixture of glucose and fructose, is called:

• A. esterification
• B. inversion
• C. saponification
• D. insertion

Answer 1

Answer: (B)

inversion

Acid or enzymatic hydrolysis of sucrose to give an equimolar mixture of glucose and fructose is called inversion.
$C_{12}{H}_{22}{O}_{11}+H_{2}O\stackrel{dil{H}_{2}S{O}_4}{\to }\left[heat\right]\underset{glucose}{C_6{H}_{12}{O}_6}+\underset{fructose}{C_6{H}_{12}{O}_6}$
When sucrose is hydrolyzed, equimolar mixture of glucose and fructose is obtained.
The sign of rotation changes from (+) to (-).
Hence, the mixture of glucose and fructose is called an invert sugar.