fructose

(fruit sugar, laevulose) Α ketohexose sugar. In solution fructose forms a *furanose ring to give fructofuranose. Fructose is the commonest keto sugar and is a component of the disaccharide *sucrose. Fructose is, with glucose, one of the few monosaccharides to occur free in plant tissues, e.g. fruit juices. Polymers of fructose are termed fructosans, the most important of which is inulin.