Glycolysis (from glycose, an older term for glucose + -lysis degradation) is the metabolic pathway that converts glucose C₆H₁₂O₆, into pyruvate, CH₃COCOO^- + H⁺. The free energy released in this process is used to form the high-energy compounds ATP (adenosine triphosphate) and NADH (reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide).