Inverted sugar syrup

As invert ( Invertose, occasionally trimoline ) is a mixture of material volume equal parts sugar ( glucose) and fructose ( fructose). A similar composition can also have honey, in which case significant deviations may occur from 50:50 ratio.

Production

Invert sugar is made by adding small amounts of acid as a catalyst in hot water in sucrose ( cane or beet sugar) or by treatment with invertase. The sucrose molecules that are composed as disaccharides composed of one grape and one fructose molecule, thereby again broken down into its two monosaccharide components:

This chemical is known as hydrolysis ( in the specific case as sucrose inversion). With the aid of polarized light can be tracked continuously with a polarimeter, as far as the reaction is advanced. At the beginning of the sample consists almost entirely of sucrose, this rotates the plane of polarized light by 65 °. With the reaction progresses, the sucrose breaks down into glucose units with direction 52 ° and fructose with the direction of rotation - 92 °. Since overlap the directions of rotation of the two substances, the finished invert sugar has a direction of rotation of - 20 °, ie the arithmetic mean between the two widely separated individual values. The direction of rotation is reversed so during the reaction order in the other direction ( inversion), this property led to the name of invert sugar.

Invert sugar can also by microorganisms (certain strains of yeast ) or prepared with immobilized invertase. And glucose isomerase can be used to produce the same amount of substance of glucose -fructose mixtures.

Use

Invert sugar becomes liquid sugar or invert sugar to (formerly called artificial honey ) further processed or used as invert sugar like glucose syrup in the food industry. Invert sugar is also used for winter feeding in beekeeping, and as an additive in many tobacco cigarette brands. In the list of ingredients on food packaging and more often glucose -fructose syrup is cited instead invert sugar syrup, as it is now more commonly produced from starch instead of sucrose. Also commercial sugar syrup for cocktails consists mainly of water and invert. Invert sugar tastes milder and fruit similar than non-inverted sucrose. He also does not crystallize as easily as sucrose, so that the cream or syrup remains liquid for longer than a more highly concentrated sucrose solution. The main reason for this is the fructose, since it is highly hygroscopic and difficult to crystallize.