Sucrose (/3-D-fructofuranosyl-a-D-glucopyranoside, C 12 H 22011 ), a disaccharide, is widely distributed in nature, having been found universally throughout the plant kingdom in fruits, seeds, flowers and roots of plants. The crystal structure of sucrose has been determined precisely using neutron diffraction data, and a detailed analysis has already been carried out [1,2]. Sarcosine (N-methylglycine, CH 3NH + CH 2COO ) is an a-amino acid found to be present in several biologically important compounds and is also used in certain cosmetics [3,4]. The crystal structure of sarcosine was earlier elucidated in the authors' laboratory [5]. This study, on the structure elucidation of an adduct of sarsocine with sucrose seems to be the first of its kind involving the interactions of an amino acid with a carbohydrate.
Single crystals of the above adduct were obtained by slow evaporation of an aqueous solution containing stoichiometric amounts of sarcosine and sucrose in 1:1 proportion. Intensity data were collected on an Enraf-Nonius CAD4 diffractometer with graphite monochromated MoK,~ radiation using the o0-20 scan technique up to 50.0 ยฐ in 20 giving 1795 unique reflections. Cell parameters were obtained from least-squares refinement of the setting angles of 25 centred reflections in the range 6 < 0 < 12 ยฐ. Crystal and experimental data are given in Table 1. The data were corrected for Lorentz Corresponding author. i Tables of atomic coordinates, bond lengths and bond angles have been deposited with the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre. These tables may be obtained, on request, from the Director,