The chemists hypothesized that the yeast initiated alcoholic fermentation but did not take part in the reaction. They assumed that the yeast remained unchanged throughout the chemical reactions.

Further work has shown that fermentation is a series of chemical reactions in which phosphoric acid plays a part, and during the process compounds between the sugar and phosphoric acid ...

Fermentation is an anaerobic process: close anaerobicAnaerobic processes occur in the absence of oxygen. glucose → ethanol + carbon dioxide Yeast provides the enzymes required for fermentation ...