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Aldose
Introduction
File:D-glyceraldehyde-2D-Fischer.png
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.