An aldose is a monosaccharide (a simple sugar) that contains only one aldehyde (-CH=O) group per molecule. The chemical formula takes the form Cn(H2O)n. The simplest possible aldose is the diose glycolaldehyde, which only contains two carbon atoms.[1]
Because they have at least one asymmetric carbon centre, aldoses exhibit stereoisomerism. This means an aldose can exist in either a D form or L form of a Fischer projection. Biological systems tend to recognise D-aldoses more than L-aldoses.
An aldose differs from a ketose in that it has a carbonyl group at the end of the carbon chain instead of in the middle. This allows ketoses and aldoses to be chemically differentiated through Seliwanoff's test.[2] An aldose may isomerize to a ketose through the Lobry-de Bruyn-van Ekenstein transformation.[3]
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