What is a common example of a monosaccharide?

Galactose is a common example of a monosaccharide, which is a simple sugar that cannot be hydrolyzed into smaller sugar units. Monosaccharides serve as the basic building blocks of carbohydrates and include other sugars like glucose and fructose. They have a general formula of (CH2O)n, where 'n' is typically between 3 and 7 for most naturally occurring monosaccharides.

In contrast, sucralose is an artificial sweetener derived from sucrose but is not a monosaccharide; it is a disaccharide that has been modified. Lactose is a disaccharide composed of glucose and galactose, and maltose is also a disaccharide formed from two glucose units. Both lactose and maltose are larger carbohydrate structures that exemplify the combination of monosaccharides, but they do not qualify as monosaccharides themselves. Therefore, galactose stands out as the correct choice among the options given.