Aldoses solution

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. 

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 ... 

The reaction is used for the chain extension of aldoses in the synthesis of new or unusual sugars In this case the starting material l arabinose is an abundant natural product and possesses the correct configurations at its three chirality centers for elaboration to the relatively rare l enantiomers of glucose and mannose After cyanohydrin formation the cyano groups are converted to aldehyde functions by hydrogenation m aqueous solution Under these conditions —C=N is reduced to —CH=NH and hydrolyzes rapidly to —CH=0 Use of a poisoned palladium on barium sulfate catalyst prevents further reduction to the alditols... 

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. 

Although the Tollens reaction is a useful test for reducing sugars, it doesn t give good yields of aldonic acid products because the alkaline conditions cause decomposition of the carbohydrate. For preparative purposes, a buffered solution of aqueous Br2 is a better oxidant. The reaction is specific for aldoses ketoses are not oxidized by aqueous Br2. 

In aqueous solution the rate law for oxidation of simple a-ketols, such as acetoin and benzoin and various aldoses and ketoses o. sog-sioj markedly different from that of Wiberg and Nigh (vide supra), viz. 

Neutral solutions of pure aldoses exhibit no selective absorption in the ultraviolet region103 106 such an absorption may, however, be observed108 for solutions of D-glucose and L-arabinose in 50% sulfuric acid, and is... 

The oxidation of an aldose by copper(II) ions results in the reduction of the copper to copper(l) oxide, which has a formula of CU2O. A positive test has the bright blue copper(Il) solution precipitating brick-red copper(l) oxide. The result An aldehyde group becomes a carboxylic acid. 

The interconversion of aldoses and the respective 2-ketoses in alkaline solution may be somewhat more complex than originally supposed, as it has been reported that a partial transfer of hydrogen from C-2 of the aldose to C-l of the corresponding ketose occurs during the reaction.29 This observation is not inconsistent with isomerizations that involve 1,2-enediol intermediates. The transfer could occur as a result of a rapid conversion in which some of the protons originally at C-2 of the aldose molecules are retained by the solvent cage that surrounds the intermediate 1,2-enediol, and are, therefore, available for addition to C-l of the resulting ketose. It should be noted that other interpretations, such as hydride-transfer mechanisms, are also possible. 

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