Question

Describe the action of the following reagent on glucose:

Bromine water

Answer 1

When glucose is oxidized using a mild oxidizing agent, such as bromine water, gluconic acid is produced, indicating that the carbonyl group in glucose is actually an aldehyde group.

\[\begin{array}{cc}
\ce{CHO}\phantom{.............}\ce{COOH}\phantom{.}\\
|\phantom{..................}|\phantom{......}\\
\ce{(CHOH)4}\ce{ ->[(O)][Br2 water]}\ce{(CHOH)4}\\
|\phantom{..................}|\phantom{......}\\
\phantom{..}\ce{\underset{(Glucose)}{CH2OH}}\phantom{.........}\ce{\underset{(Gluconic acid)}{CH2OH}}
\end{array}\]