I believe sucrose and fructose are processed differently — specifically fructose is processed by the liver so can have the same issues as alcohol there.

Sucrose is 50% fructose. HFCS is typically 42-55% fructose. They are essentially indistinguishable to your liver.

There is also a chemical bond that needs to be broken in sucrose

Of course, and the human body is full of enzymes that exist to cleave saccharides into their constituent sugars.

> Sucrose is 50% fructose

What? They're different molecules

Sucrose is a disaccharide made up of 50% glucose and 50% fructose.