β-D-glucose

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The official name for this molecule is β-D-glucose.

The "β" is the Greek letter "beta", and tells us that the -OH (in orange) is pointing out instead of down. (If it's pointing down, then it's "alpha" or "α" like in the 3D model to the right. Click on it to pop up a version you can rotate and zoom in and out on.)

The "D-" form of glucose is the only form that can be used by plants and animals. The opposite of "D-" is "L-", which is the mirror image. It's kind of like your right hand and your left hand. Just like your left hand doesn't fit into a right glove, L-glucose doesn't fit into enzymes, the tools that your body (and animals and plants, too!) uses to handle glucose.

Often the "D-" is left off of the name. If we're talking about glucose used in a living thing, then it must be "D-"!

Now if you want to sound really smart and be totally technical, you can call it β-D-glucopyranose ! The "pyranose" part just means that the glucose is in a ring instead of in the open-chain form, and that the ring is made up of one O and five C's. There are other ways that the ring can be formed, but this one is the most common. By the way, "glucopyranose" sounds like (glue-koe-pie'-ran-owes). Sweet!