At 11:42 AM -0500 00/11/27, Rick Green wrote:
>In "Hive and the Honey Bee" it says that ...invertase is added to honey by
>honey bees to convert the sucrose found in nectar to dextrose and levulose.
>The result is a more stable, higher-solid product which increases the
>efficency of the ripening process.
>
>What exactly does that mean...is there less sugar loss during evaporation, or
>what?
>Is there a chemistry-oriented beekeeper out there who knows?

        yes, I'm a biochemist.
The sucrose molecule is split, by adding a water molecule's constituent 3
atoms (a process called hydrolysis), to produce one molecule of glucose and
one of fructose.  (The old names for those sugars which you quoted should
be disused.)  The main effect is not on 'sugar loss during evaporation', a
very minor process as far as I've heard  -  sugars are not volatile
materials in these conditions  -  but in doubling the sugar concentration,
an effect which is compounded by deliberate evaporation of water to produce
a concentrated sugar solution in which few if any microbes can live.
        This hydrolysis is catalysed (speeded) by that specific enzyme from
the bees.
        I can make little of the final sentence in the quote.  Sucrose is
not inherently unstable under the conditions of ripening; and 'the
efficiency of the ripening process' means little to me; it sounds as if
written by an economist.

        The hydrolysis of sucrose to the two other sugars is only the most
obvious change.  Many other chemical changes are wrought by the bees in
converting nectar to honey.

R

-
Robt Mann
consultant ecologist
P O Box 28878   Remuera, Auckland 1005, New Zealand
                (9) 524 2949