Crystal structure of β-d,l-fructose

The title compound, C(6)H(12)O(6), was crystallized from an aqueous solution of equimolar mixture of d- and l-fructose (1,3,4,5,6-penta­hydroxy­hexan-2-one, arabino-hexulose or levu­lose), and it was confirmed that d-fructose (or l-fructose) formed β-pyran­ose with a (2) C (5) (or (5) C (2)) conformation. In the crystal, two O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds between the hy­droxy groups at the C-1 and C-3 positions, and at the C-4 and C-5 positions connect homochiral mol­ecules into a column along the a axis. The columns are linked by other O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds between d- and l-fructose mol­ecules, forming a three-dimensional network.