What Can Be Used to Make a Glucose Solution? A Guide to Sources

October 24, 2025 •

4 min read

Approximately 99% of glucose in an aqueous solution exists in a cyclic form. A pure glucose solution is most accurately made using glucose or dextrose powder dissolved in water. This provides a reliable source for medical, experimental, and high-performance energy needs.

Quick Summary

Explore different sources for creating a glucose solution, including pure glucose powder, dextrose, and common sugars. Learn about preparation methods for various applications, from scientific to at-home use.

Key Points

Pure Glucose: Use pure dextrose powder dissolved in water for an accurate glucose solution, essential for medical and laboratory applications.
Dextrose vs. Glucose: Dextrose is simply another name for D-glucose, the most common form of glucose, making them interchangeable for creating a solution.
Table Sugar (Sucrose): A sugar-and-water solution is not pure glucose; it's a mixture of glucose and fructose created by hydrolysis.
Oral Rehydration Solution: For home rehydration, specific recipes using table sugar and salt in water are used, but they are not pure glucose solutions.
Lab Grade Purity: For precise experiments, use anhydrous or monohydrate dextrose and distilled water to avoid impurities.
Safe Handling: Always ensure clean utensils and use high-quality water, especially when preparing solutions for consumption or scientific work.

Sourcing the Best Ingredient for a Glucose Solution

To make a glucose solution, the most direct and purest method is to dissolve glucose powder or its close relative, dextrose, in water. The choice of source depends largely on the intended use, with high-purity options required for medical or laboratory settings and more accessible methods for general purposes.

Using Pure Glucose or Dextrose Powder

For most accurate and reliable results, particularly in scientific experiments or for treating conditions like hypoglycemia, pure glucose powder (also known as dextrose) is the best choice. Dextrose is chemically identical to the body's natural glucose and can be absorbed rapidly into the bloodstream. You can purchase dextrose monohydrate, which is a common form of glucose widely used for nutrition, or anhydrous dextrose, which is a dry form with a longer shelf life.

To prepare a simple 10% solution, a common concentration for many applications:

Gather 10 grams of pure dextrose powder and 100 milliliters of distilled or deionized water.
Add the dextrose powder to a clean beaker or container.
Pour in the water and stir until the powder is completely dissolved.
The final solution will have a volume of 100 ml with a 10% concentration of glucose.

For a more concentrated solution, like a 50% solution, you would mix 50 grams of glucose powder with 100 ml of water.

Making a Solution from Common Table Sugar (Sucrose)

Regular table sugar, or sucrose, is a disaccharide made of one glucose molecule and one fructose molecule bonded together. A simple sugar-and-water mixture is therefore not a pure glucose solution. However, with the application of heat and an acid, the sucrose can be broken down (hydrolyzed) into its component simple sugars, resulting in a mixture of glucose and fructose known as invert sugar. While not pure glucose, this can serve as an energy source for general applications like feeding plants or creating a basic syrup.

A simple home recipe for invert sugar involves:

Boiling one cup of granulated sugar with about a half cup of water.
Adding a teaspoon of an acid, such as lemon juice or vinegar, and continuing to heat on low to dissolve the sugar completely.
The solution will contain a mix of glucose and fructose and should not be used where pure glucose is required.

Industrial and Specialized Sources

On an industrial scale, glucose syrup is primarily produced by the hydrolysis of starch, commonly from corn, potatoes, or tapioca. This complex process involves enzymes like α-amylase and glucoamylase to break down the starch into individual glucose molecules. For specialized uses, liquid glucose control solutions containing water, glucose, and stabilizers like xanthan gum are used to test blood glucose meters.

Applications for Glucose Solutions

Glucose solutions serve various purposes:

Medical: Treating hypoglycemia, providing carbohydrates for patients unable to eat, and hydrating individuals post-surgery.
Laboratory: Used in experiments to assess glucose uptake by cells, in glucose tolerance tests, and as a standard reagent.
Home Use: In basic oral rehydration solutions to help prevent dehydration, particularly during illness causing vomiting or diarrhea.
Culinary: Used in candy making and baking as an alternative sweetener to prevent crystallization. Note: For this purpose, corn syrup or invert sugar is often used.

Comparison: Pure Dextrose vs. Table Sugar


Feature	Pure Dextrose (D-Glucose)	Table Sugar (Sucrose)
Composition	100% glucose.	Disaccharide of glucose and fructose.
Absorption Speed	Absorbed very rapidly, leading to a high glycemic index (100).	Absorbed more slowly as it must be broken down into glucose and fructose first.
Purity	High-purity, standardized product suitable for medical and lab use.	Home-grade product, not a pure glucose source.
Best For	Treating hypoglycemia, lab work, controlled energy boosts.	General sweetening, basic oral rehydration solution (ORS).
Cost	Generally more expensive per unit weight due to processing.	Inexpensive and readily available.

Choosing the Right Water

For a precise scientific or medical application, using distilled or deionized water is crucial as it lacks impurities and minerals that could affect results. For home-based, non-critical needs, boiled and cooled tap water is sufficient.

Conclusion: Selecting Your Glucose Source

The choice of material for a glucose solution is driven by its intended purpose. If medical accuracy for hypoglycemia management or scientific precision is required, pure glucose (dextrose) powder is the definitive and correct ingredient. For simpler, non-critical applications like homemade rehydration, table sugar can be used, with the understanding that it is not a pure glucose solution. For specialized industrial needs, such as high-fructose corn syrup production, starches are the source. Ultimately, understanding the difference in purity and composition allows for safe and effective preparation, no matter the need.

For more detailed information on glucose and its properties, you can consult resources like the Chemistry LibreTexts library, which has extensive information on carbohydrates like glucose.

Frequently Asked Questions

No, regular table sugar is sucrose, a disaccharide made of glucose and fructose. While you can create a sugar-water solution, it is not a pure glucose solution and will be a mix of both simple sugars after digestion.

For practical purposes, dextrose is the same as glucose. Dextrose is the name for D-glucose, the biologically active form of glucose that is naturally found in plants and is used by the body for energy.

For a lab experiment, weigh a specific amount of pure glucose (dextrose) powder and dissolve it in a precise volume of distilled or deionized water. A 1 M solution requires dissolving 18 g of glucose in 100 ml of water.

You can purchase pure glucose powder (dextrose) from pharmacies, online supplement stores, and retailers specializing in food ingredients or lab supplies. It is often sold as a nutritional supplement or a treatment for hypoglycemia.

No, producing pure glucose from corn syrup is a complex industrial process involving specific enzymes and purification steps. Corn syrup itself is a form of glucose syrup, but it is not pure glucose.

A basic oral rehydration solution can be made at home by mixing 8 level teaspoons of sugar and a half teaspoon of salt into one liter of clean, boiled, and cooled water. This should not be used as a substitute for pure glucose in critical medical situations.

Medically, glucose solutions are used to treat low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), provide carbohydrate calories to patients who cannot eat, and for rehydration in various settings.