Ose

Ose is a common suffix in biochemistry used to name sugars and related carbohydrates. It appears at the end of many well-known sugars such as glucose, fructose, galactose, ribose, and sucrose.

In naming, sugars ending with -ose are typically monosaccharides or disaccharides that contain multiple hydroxyl groups. Chemists classify them as aldoses or ketoses: aldoses contain an aldehyde group; ketoses contain a ketone group. Examples include glucose and galactose as aldohexoses, fructose as a ketohexose, ribose as an aldopentose, and deoxyribose as a related aldopentose lacking one oxygen.

The suffix also applies to polysaccharides and sugar derivatives derived from these units, such as cellulose (a polymer of glucose) and lactose (a glucose–galactose disaccharide). However, -ose is not a formal chemical family name; it is a traditional naming convention used for carbohydrates.

In biological contexts, sugars ending with -ose serve as energy sources or structural components and participate in pathways such as glycolysis and photosynthesis. The -ose ending helps distinguish sugars from other types of organic compounds in scientific nomenclature.