Invertase (systematic name: beta-fructofuranosidase) is an enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis

Hydrolysis

Hydrolysis is a chemical reaction during which molecules of water are split into hydrogen cations and hydroxide anions in the process of a chemical mechanism. It is the type of reaction that is used to break down certain polymers, especially those made by condensation polymerization...

 (breakdown) of sucrose

Sucrose

Sucrose is the organic compound commonly known as table sugar and sometimes called saccharose. A white, odorless, crystalline powder with a sweet taste, it is best known for its role in human nutrition. The molecule is a disaccharide composed of glucose and fructose with the molecular formula...

 (table sugar). The resulting mixture of fructose

Fructose

Fructose, or fruit sugar, is a simple monosaccharide found in many plants. It is one of the three dietary monosaccharides, along with glucose and galactose, that are absorbed directly into the bloodstream during digestion. Fructose was discovered by French chemist Augustin-Pierre Dubrunfaut in 1847...

 and glucose

Glucose

Glucose is a simple sugar and an important carbohydrate in biology. Cells use it as the primary source of energy and a metabolic intermediate...

 is called inverted sugar syrup

Inverted sugar syrup

Inverted or invert sugar syrup is a mixture of glucose and fructose; it is obtained by splitting sucrose into these two components. Compared with its precursor, sucrose, inverted sugar is sweeter and its products tend to remain more moist and are less prone to crystallisation...

. Related to invertases are sucrases. Invertases and sucrase

Sucrase

Sucrase is the name given to a number of enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of sucrose to fructose and glucose. The enzyme invertase, which occurs more commonly in plants, also hydrolyzes sucrose but by a different mechanism.-Physiology:...

s hydrolyze sucrose to give the same mixture of glucose and fructose. Invertases cleave the O-C(fructose) bond, whereas the sucrases cleave the O-C(glucose) bond.

For industrial use, invertase is usually derived from yeast

Yeast

Yeasts are eukaryotic micro-organisms classified in the kingdom Fungi, with 1,500 species currently described estimated to be only 1% of all fungal species. Most reproduce asexually by mitosis, and many do so by an asymmetric division process called budding...

. It is also synthesized by bees, who use it to make honey

Honey

Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...

 from nectar. Optimum temperature at which the rate of reaction is at its greatest is 60 °C and an optimum pH

PH

In chemistry, pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution. Pure water is said to be neutral, with a pH close to 7.0 at . Solutions with a pH less than 7 are said to be acidic and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are basic or alkaline...

 of 4.5. Typically, sugar is inverted with sulfuric acid.

Applications and examples

Invertase is expensive, so it may be preferable to make fructose from glucose using glucose isomerase

Xylose isomerase

In enzymology, a xylose isomerase is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reactionThis enzyme belongs to the family of isomerases, specifically those intramolecular oxidoreductases interconverting aldoses and ketoses. The systematic name of this enzyme class is D-xylose aldose-ketose-isomerase...

instead.

Chocolate covered cherries, and Caramilk bars include invertase, which liquifies the sugar inside. Once the candy is manufactured, it needs at least a couple of days to a couple of weeks in storage so that the invertase can do its work.