Chinese scientists have achieved a precise total synthesis of sugar from carbon dioxide in the laboratory, which is a crucial step in the artificial synthesis of sugar.

Sugar is an important source of energy for the human body and a key raw material for industrial fermentation, and is obtained mainly by extracting it from crops such as sugar cane.However, the traditional extraction method is limited by the energy conversion efficiency of plant photosynthesis. In addition, the sugar extraction process has been affected by an uncertain supply of raw materials due to land degradation and scarcity, ecosystem degradation, and extreme weather and natural disasters caused by global warming.

As a result, artificial sugar synthesis has been assiduously studied by the scientific community in recent years, and scientists from around the world have contributed to this effort, China Daily reports.

In their latest research, the Chinese scientists adjusted the high concentrations of carbon dioxide and other raw materials in the reaction solution according to certain proportions. With the help of chemical catalysts and enzyme catalysts, they obtained four types of sugars: glucose, allulose, tagatose, and mannose.

The experiment lasted about 17 hours, much less than the time required for traditional sugar extraction methods, according to Yang Jiangang, the paper’s lead author and a research associate at the Tianjin institute. The efficiency of sugar synthesis in this study was 0.67 grams per liter per hour, more than 10 times higher than previous results achieved by scientists around the world.

Yang said the rate of conversion of carbon dioxide to sugar from glucose reached 59.8 nanomoles of carbon per milligram of catalyst per minute. This is the highest level of artificial sugar production known nationally and internationally.

The study, published in the Chinese Science Bulletin, also achieved precise control of artificial sugar synthesis. “By controlling the various catalytic effects of different enzymes, almost any type of sugar can theoretically be synthesized,” Yang said.

The conversion of carbon dioxide to sugar is considered an example of green chemistry, since it was carried out under normal conditions of temperature and pressure and did not produce any harmful substances.

Source: dpa

(Reference image source: Unsplash, in collaboration with Getty Images)

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