Health Dictionary
Reliable, easy-to-read patient information on common medical conditions — written in plain language, free of jargon, and grounded in current evidence. Browse the most frequent diagnoses, understand what they mean for everyday life, and learn which steps and questions help you have a focused conversation with your doctor.
Arabinose
Introduction
Arabinose is an aldopentose — a monosaccharide containing five carbon atoms, and including an aldehyde (CHO) functional group. It has chemical formula C5H10O5 and a molar mass of 150.13 g/mol.
Isomerism
Isomerism
For biosynthetic reasons, saccharides are almost always more abundant in nature as the “D” form, or structurally analogous to D-(+)-glyceraldehyde.[1] However, L-arabinose is in fact more common than D-arabinose in nature and is found in nature as a component of biopolymers such as hemicellulose and pectin. The L-arabinose operon is a very important operon in molecular biology and bioengineering.
A classic method for the organic synthesis of arabinose from glucose is the Wohl degradation.
References
References
- ↑ For sugars, the D/L nomenclature does not refer to the molecule’s optical rotation properties.
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]