anaerobic stages, the aerobic stages also yield the energy-rich compound NADre. In fact, it is the transfer of this compound's electrons to oxygen via the respiratory electron-transport chain that yields most of the ATP generated from the degradation
of a molecule of glucose.
During the oxidation of the two pyruvic acid molecules produced by glycolysis to two molecules of acetyl-CoA, a form of acetic acid bonded to a coenzyme called coenzyme A (CoA), two molecules of NADre are produced as are two molecules of carbon dioxide. So far in the degradation of glucose, two new ATP, four NADre molecules have been produced and two of the original six carbons have been released as carbon dioxide.
