Aldose



An aldose is a monosaccharide (a simple sugar) containing one aldehyde group per molecule and having a chemical formula of the form CnH2nOn, (n>=3).

With only 3 carbon atoms, glyceraldehyde is the simplest of all aldoses.

Aldoses isomerize to ketoses in the Lobry-de Bruyn-van Ekenstein transformation. Aldose differs from ketose in that it has a carbonyl group at the end of the carbon chain whereas the carbonyl group of a ketose is in the middle; this fact allows them to be chemically differentiated through Seliwanoff's test.

List of aldoses

 * Triose: glyceraldehyde
 * Tetroses: erythrose, threose
 * Pentoses: ribose, arabinose, xylose, lyxose
 * Hexoses: allose, altrose, glucose, mannose, gulose, idose, galactose, talose