Lactose Molecule

References

(Wikipedia, 2017) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactose Retrieved:2017-11-22.
- Lactose is a disaccharide sugar composed of galactose and glucose that is found in milk. Lactose makes up around 2–8% of milk (by weight), although the amount varies among species and individuals, and milk with a reduced amount of lactose also exists. It can be extracted from sweet or sour whey. The name comes from ' (gen. '), the Latin word for milk, plus the -ose ending used to name sugars. ^[1] It has a formula of C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁ and the hydrate formula C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁·H₂O, making it an isomer of sucrose.

↑ In 1856, Louis Pasteur named galactose "lactose". See: * Pasteur (1856) "Note sur le sucre de lait" (Note on milk sugar), Comptes rendus, 42 : 347–351. From page 348: "Je propose de le nommer lactose." (I propose to name it lactose.) In 1860, Berthelot renamed it "galactose", and transferred the name "lactose" to what is now called lactose. See: * Marcellin Berthelot, Chimie organique fondée sur la synthèse [Organic chemistry based on synthesis] (Paris, France: Mallet-Bachelier, 1860), vol. 2, pp. 248–249 and pp. 268–270.