Aldose reagent

SchifT s reagent A solution of rosaniline in water decolorized with sulphurous acid. Aliphatic aldehydes and aldose sugars give a magenta colour with this reagent with aromatic aldehydes and aliphatic ketones the colour develops more slowly aromatic ketones do not react. 

Methylphenylosazones. cw-Methylphenylhydrazine does not form osazones with aldoses presumably because the base or more probably the methylphenylhydrazonium ion [CgH5NCH3NH3]+ will oxidise a—CHjOH but not a >CHOH group it readily forms osazones with ketoses, thus providing an excellent reagent for fructose. 

Both aldoses and ketoses reduce Fehling s solution (for details, see under 4). This fact may appear surprising when it is remembered that Fehling s solution is one of the reagents for distinguishing between aldehydes and ketones (see 4). The explanation lies in the fact that a-hydroxyketones are much more readily oxidised than simple ketones, perhaps because the hydroxy ketone allows its isomerisation, in the presence of alkali, into an aldehyde. For example, fructose, a keto-hexose, might Isomerlse thus ... 

Another reaction that is characteristic of a-hydroxy aldehydes or ketones, which has been found of value for the characterisation of sugars, is the formation of osazones with phenylhydrazine. This reagent reacts with either an aldose... 

Aldoses are reducing sugars because they possess an aldehyde function m then-open chain form Ketoses are also reducing sugars Under the conditions of the test ketoses equilibrate with aldoses by way of enediol intermediates and the aldoses are oxidized by the reagent... 

Addition of hydrogen cyanide to an aldose to form a cyanohydrin is the first step in the Kiliani-Fischer method for increasing the carbon chain of aldoses by one unit. Cyanohydrins react with Grignard reagents (see Grignard reaction) to give a-hydroxy ketones. 

In order to characterize them and more readily separate them from interfering accompanying substances carbonyl compounds (aldehydes, ketones) can be converted to hydrazones at the start. The reagent mainly employed is 2,4-dinitro-phenylhydrazine in acidic solution [70], This yields osazones with aldoses and ketoses. Some examples are listed in Table 15. 

Note Aldoses do not react or only react with greatly reduced sensitivity. The reagent can be employed with silica gel, kieselguhr and Si 50 000 layers. Paraffin-impregnated silica gel layers may also be employed [8]. 

Note The reagent can be employed on sihca gel, kieselguhr. Si 50 000 and cellulose layers. At room temperature sugars and sugar derivatives react at different rates depending on the functional groups present [1], e.g. ketoses react more rapidly than aldoses. It is possible to differentiate substance types on this basis [1, 3]. 

Finally, if only the -CH2OH end of the aldose is oxidized without affecting the -CHO group, the product is a monocarboxylic acid called a uronic acid. The reaction must be done enzymatically no satisfactory chemical reagent is known that can accomplish this selective oxidation in the laboratory. 

Osmium tetroxide, reaction with alkenes, 235-236 toxicity of, 235 Oxalic add, structure of, 753 Oxaloacetic acid, structure of, 753 Oxetane, reaction with Grignard reagents, 680 Oxidation, 233, 348 alcohols, 623-626 aldehydes, 700-701 aldoses, 992-994 alkenes, 233-236 biological, 625-626 phenols, 631 sulfides, 670 thiols, 668... 

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