Fructose (which is also known as fructopyranose) means, literally, "
fruit sugar". It is a very
sweet six-
carbon sugar that serves as a building block for more
complex sugars and
carbohydrates. It is found naturally in
fruits and some
vegetables and is used widely in the
food industry because it is sweeter than
sucrose.
Fructose 1,6-bisphosphate is a key glycolysis intermediate (it is classified as a hexose diphosphate). It was discovered by Arthur Harden and William Young in 1905. In the third step of glycolysis, fructose 6-phosphate and ATP are converted to fructose 1,6-bisphosphate and ADP with the aid of phosphofructokinase. In step 4, fructose 1,6 bisphosphate (with the aid of aldolase) is cleaved into dihydroxyacetone phosphate and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate.
From the science dictionary at http://biotech.icmb.utexas.edu/