In 1891, Emil Fischer determined the structures of glucose and the seven other d-aldohexoses using only simple chemical reactions and clever reasoning about stereochemistry andsymmetry. He received the Nobel Prize for this work in 1902. Fischer had determined thatd-glucose is an aldohexose, and he used Ruff degradations to degrade it to (+)-glyceraldehyde. Therefore, the eight d-aldohexose structures shown in Figure 23-3 are the possiblestructures for glucose.Pretend that no names are shown in Figure 23-3 except for glyceraldehyde, and usethe following results to prove which of these structures represent glucose, mannose,arabinose, and erythrose.(a) Upon Ruff degradation, glucose and mannose give the same aldopentose: arabinose.Nitric acid oxidation of arabinose gives an optically active aldaric acid. What are thetwo possible structures of arabinose?(b) Upon Ruff degradation, arabinose gives the aldotetrose erythrose. Nitric acid oxidation of erythrose gives an optically inactive aldaric acid, meso-tartaric acid. What isthe structure of erythrose?

Organic Chemistry
9th Edition
ISBN:9781305080485
Author:John E. McMurry
Publisher:John E. McMurry
Chapter25: Biomolecules: Carbohydrates
Section25.6: Reactions Of Monosaccharides
Problem 23P
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In 1891, Emil Fischer determined the structures of glucose and the seven other d-aldohexoses using only simple chemical reactions and clever reasoning about stereochemistry and
symmetry. He received the Nobel Prize for this work in 1902. Fischer had determined that
d-glucose is an aldohexose, and he used Ruff degradations to degrade it to (+)-glyceraldehyde. Therefore, the eight d-aldohexose structures shown in Figure 23-3 are the possible
structures for glucose.
Pretend that no names are shown in Figure 23-3 except for glyceraldehyde, and use
the following results to prove which of these structures represent glucose, mannose,
arabinose, and erythrose.
(a) Upon Ruff degradation, glucose and mannose give the same aldopentose: arabinose.
Nitric acid oxidation of arabinose gives an optically active aldaric acid. What are the
two possible structures of arabinose?
(b) Upon Ruff degradation, arabinose gives the aldotetrose erythrose. Nitric acid oxidation of erythrose gives an optically inactive aldaric acid, meso-tartaric acid. What is
the structure of erythrose?

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