SHEET /vs/glucose-vs-glycogen · COMPARISON
Glucose vs Glycogen: what is the difference?
How they differ
Glycogen is not a different sugar, it is thousands of glucose units branched together, which is why its listed formula and weight represent a fragment rather than a fixed molecule. The body keeps glucose in the blood within a narrow range and stores the rest as glycogen in the liver and muscle, unpacking it when the level drops. Branching is the point: a branched chain has many free ends, so many enzymes can strip glucose off at once and release it quickly. Muscle glycogen is only available to that muscle, while liver glycogen is released into the blood for the whole body. Carb-loading before an endurance event is about filling those stores rather than about eating any particular sugar.
Side by side
| Glucose | Glycogen | |
|---|---|---|
| Formula | C6H12O6 | C24H42O21 |
| Molecular weight | 180.16 g/mol | 666.6 g/mol |
| Family | Sugars | Sugars |
| Everyday group | Sweetener | Body |
| Functional groups | Alcohols, Ethers | Alcohols, Ethers |
| Oral LD50A single acute animal measure. It ranks nothing about human safety. | 25,800 mg/kg (oral, rat) | not recorded |
| Sweetness | 0.75x sugar | not recorded |
| Found in | Fruit, Honey, Table sugar | not recorded |
| CAS number | not recorded | 9005-79-2 |
| PubChem CID | 5793 | 439177 |
Structural similarity 0.50 of 1, computed as a Morgan fingerprint Tanimoto coefficient. It measures shape, not effect.
Common questions
- What is the difference between Glucose and Glycogen?
- Glycogen is not a different sugar, it is thousands of glucose units branched together, which is why its listed formula and weight represent a fragment rather than a fixed molecule. The body keeps glucose in the blood within a narrow range and stores the rest as glycogen in the liver and muscle, unpacking it when the level drops. Branching is the point: a branched chain has many free ends, so many enzymes can strip glucose off at once and release it quickly.
- Is Glucose bigger than Glycogen?
- Glycogen is the heavier molecule, 666.6 g/mol against 180.16 g/mol for Glucose. Glucose is C6H12O6 and Glycogen is C24H42O21.