Seliwanoff test for ketoses

Ketoses are dehydrated more rapidly than aldoses to give furfural derivatives that can be condensed with phenols. In the Seliwanoff test for ketoses, the aqueous carbohydrate sample is treated with 3 M hydrochloric acid containing resorcinol. A deep-red precipitate is formed, indicating the presence of ketose(s). The faster rate of dehydration of ketoses by HCl versus the dehydration of aldoses permits the specific detection of ketoses [10,11]. 

Seliwanoff s test A test for ketose SUGARS in solution. The reagent used consists of resorcinol dissolved in hydrochloric acid. A few drops are added to the solution and a red precipitate indicates a ketonic sugar. The test is named for the Russian chemist F. F. Seliwanoff. 

There are a number of well-known tests for carbohydrates which depend on color formation. Thus in the Molisch test the substance is treated with mineral acid in the presence of a-naphthol and a characteristic purple color is formed. In Seliwanoff s test only ketoses give an immediate red color when warmed with mineral acid and resorcinol, and similarly ketoses give a blue coloration when warmed with sulfuric acid and diphenylamine in the Ihl-Pechmann reaction. 

There are a number of well-known colour tests for monosaccharides, such as condensation of the acid degradation products with phenolic substances. Perhaps the most frequently cited example of this is the Molisch test in which carbohydrates give a purple colour with a-naphthol in the presence of concentrated sulphuric acid. The presence of ketoses and of 3,6-anhydro-hexoses is often detected by the characteristic red colour rapidly developed with acid resorcinol (Seliwanoff test), and the presence of 2-deoxypentoses may be shown by the deep blue colour they yield with diphenylamine after degradation with acid to 5-hydroxy-levulinaldehyde. Before an individual sugar can be identified, however, it must be isolated as a pure substance in crystalline form or converted to a characteristic crystalline derivative. The derivative the author considers the best for the characterisation of the better known monosaccharides is given in Table I (p. 57). 

General color reactions of this type include the Molisch test with a-naphtfiol and concentrated sulfuric acid and the anthrone reaction with anthrone and sulfuric acid. The latter is used for quantitive colorimetric determinations. Reaction conditions can be chosen so that only ketoses react (HCl - - resorcinol, Seliwanoff s test) or only pentoses (HCl -b orcinol. Rial s test). These reactions help to distinguish the various sugars. 

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