When examining a five-carbon sugar to determine if it is ribose or deoxyribose,one looks to see if there are two H on the ________ carbon in the structure.
A)1'
B)2'
C)3'
D)4'
E)5'

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The key difference between ribose and deoxyribose sugars is the presence of an -OH group (hydroxyl group) on the 2' carbon in ribose, whereas deoxyribose has an -H (hydrogen) instead of the -OH on the 2' carbon. Thus, to distinguish between the two, one looks for the presence of two hydrogen atoms on the 2' carbon, which indicates deoxyribose.

When Examining a Five-Carbon Sugar to Determine If It Is