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Qualitative Analysis of Carbohydrates 1
Qualitative Analysis of Carbohydrates
Julio Francisco
Florida Institute of Technology
Qualitative Analysis of Carbohydrates 2
Abstract:
The purpose of this experiment was to compare and identify an unknown carbohydrate
compound to known carbohydrate samples through various of chemical testing. Theses chemical
testings include the Benedict’s test, molisch test, inversion of sucrose, Seliwanoff's test, Bial’s
test, and thin layer chromatography (TLC). After performing all the test, the unknown compound
was determined to be maltose. However, further testing must be conducted to confirm if the
unknown carbohydrate is truly maltose.
Qualitative Analysis of Carbohydrates 3
Introduction:
The following experiment was conducted to identify an unknown compound using six
different testing techniques. The unknown compound can be determined by comparing the
chemical reaction of known carbohydrates by applying various chemical tests. Qualitative data
were collected. The known carbohydrates used in this experiment were glucose, fructose,
galactose, arabinose, maltose, ribose, xylose, and sucrose. The following is an overall of the
applications and usage of each test:
Benedict’s Test
The Benedict’s test is important to identify reducing sugars. Under an alkali solution, the
reducing sugar would be heated resulting in the enolization of sugars. These sugars can
potentially reduce Cu2+ to Cu+ which results in precipitation of a red copper(I) oxide. Therefore,
the appearance of a red brick solution indicated the presence of a reducing sugar.
There are many applications for the Benedict’s test. Since the 1900’s a modified version
of Benedict’s test was used to detect glucose in the urine in order to diagnose someone with
diabetes mellitus. However, the introduction of Clinistix and TesTape supplanted the use of the
Benedict test since Clinistix and TesTape provided a more accurate reading than the Benedict’s
test (Ackerman, Williams, Packer,Hawkes, & Abler, 1958). However, due to the limitation of
urine glucose monitoring and the rise of blood glucose monitoring, urinary glucose test become
less frequently used for detection of diabetes mellitus. Today selfmonitoring of capillary blood
glucose is commonly used to determine the blood glucose level for diabetic patient due to a more
accurate reading than previous testing techniques (Cowart & Stachura,1990). There are many
other applications of the Benedict’s test to discuss; however, such applications is beyond the
scope of this paper.
Qualitative Analysis of Carbohydrates 4
Molisch Test
The Molisch test is a test for general carbohydrate. In this test, carbohydrate is dehydrate
to a furfural derivative in the presence of a concentrated acid (e.g. sulfuric acid). The furfural
react with αnaphthol resulting in the formation of a red or violet color. Therefore, a positive test
for a carbohydrate is denoted by the appearance of a red or violet colored solution.
Researcher generally use the Molisch test to determined the presence of carbohydrate in
variety of substances, from elastin protein to unripened guavas (Misra & Seshadri, 1968; Stein &
Miller, 1938).
Bial’s Test
The Bial’s test is a chemical test used to detect the presence of a pentose molecule. If a
pentose molecule was presence, then the Bial’s reagent will cause the pentose to dehydrate
which result in the formation of furfural. The furfural further react with orcinol to give a
bluegreen condensation product. Therefore, the appearance of a bluegreen color solution
indicates the presence of a pentose molecule.
Seliwanoff's Test for Ketose
The Seliwanoff's test is used to detect the presence of ketose. If the ketose is presence,
then the Seliwanoff’s reagent would dehydrate the ketose and form hydroxymethyl furfural. The
hydroxymethyl furfural will further react with resorcinol giving off a red condensation product.
Therefore, the presence of a ketose molecule is indicated by the formation of a red colored
solution.
Qualitative Analysis of Carbohydrates 5
TLC for Carbohydrate
TLC is a technique used to separate molecule from a complex mixture based on particular
properties of the compounds (e.g. adsorption). Some of the advantage of using TLC method is
the fact it is simple, expedient, inexpensive, and effective method of separation (Tyrpień,
Bodzek, & Manka, 2001). The applications of TLC technique is so profound that it will go
beyond the scope of the paper.
Experimental Procedure:
Benedict’s Test
In the Benedict’s test, 5 ml of Benedict’s reagent was added to 5 test tubes. Then, 1 ml of
0.1 M of glucose, maltose, arabinose, sucrose, and xylose were individual to each test tube. Place
in boiling water bath for 5 to 50 minutes. Any color change was observed.
Molisch Test
In the Molisch test, 5 ml of 1:10 dilution of glucose, fructose, galactose, maltose,
arabinose, ribose, xylose, sucrose, and two unknowns were placed into individual test tubes.
Next, 2 drops of Molisch reagent and 3 ml of concentrated H2SO4 were added and observation
was recorded.
Bial’s Test
For the Bial’s test, add 5 ml of Bial’s reagent to 1 ml aliquots of 0.01 M glucose,
fructose, arabinose, ribose , and sucrose. Place in boiling water bath for fifteen minutes. Record
appearance.
Qualitative Analysis of Carbohydrates 6
Seliwanoff's Test for Ketose
For the Seliwanoff’s test, add 5 ml of Seliwanoff’s reagent to 1.0 ml aliquots of 0.01 M
solutions of glucose, fructose, sucrose, galactose, and ribose. Place in boiling water bath for
fifteen minutes. Record any changes in appearance.
Inversion of Sucrose
For the inversion of sucrose, add 5 ml of 0.1 M solutions of glucose, fructose, maltose,
arabinose, ribose, xylose, sucrose, and unknown solutions into two different test tubes. Add 5
drop of concentrated HCl to one test tube and heat both tube in boiling water bath for 10
minutes. Afterward, add 5 ml of benedict’s reagent to test the presence of reducing sugar.
ThinLayer Chromatography of Carbohydrate
In the TLC experiment, spot 0.1 M of sugar solutions and the unknown solutions with a
capillary tube onto an activated silica gel plate. Allow the spot to dry. After the spot has been
dried, place the plate into a glass block chromatocab filled with solvent to the 0.5 cm level.
Allow the solvent to rise for twenty minutes. Remove the plate from the from the chromatocab in
order for the plates to be analysis.
Results:
Table 1. Carbohydrate Identification Table. The following table demonstrate the observation for
each test applied on individual carbohydrates. The shaded regions represent the omission of
certain carbohydrate from certain test.
Carbohydrate Benedict’s Molish Test Bial’s Test Seliwanoff's Inversion of
Test Test Sucrose
Unknown 2
Unknown 3
Unknown 4
Six carbohydrate identification tests were performed and the observation was recorded
(Table 1). First, the molisch test was used to detect any carbohydrate. A positive result for the
molisch test is indicated by the appearance of a red to violet color. Among all carbohydrate
Qualitative Analysis of Carbohydrates 8
tested, four carbohydrates changed to a red color. This includes galactose, maltose, arabinose,
and sucrose. On the other hand, glucose, fructose, ribose, and xylose changed to a brownish
color.
The next test was the Benedict’s test which is common use to detect reducing sugars. A
positive test for the Benedict’s test is indicated by the formation of yellow, green, or red
precipitation. Glucose, maltose, arabinose, and unknown are the only carbohydrates that
indicated a positive result for the benedict’s test. Furthermore, sucrose did not showed any color
changes.
The third test was the Bial’s test which is used to detect the presence of pentose. The
presence of a pentose is indicated by the appearance of greenblue or olivegreen color. The
Bial’s test was conducted on solutions with glucose, fructose, arabinose, ribose, sucrose, and an
unknown compound. None of the compounds gave an indication of a pentose.
The next experiment conducted was the Seliwanoff’s test. The Seliwanoff’s test is used to
detect the presence of a ketose. A positive result is indicated by the appearance of red color.
Fructose and sucrose are the only two compounds that gave a positive result for the presence of
ketose.
The last test was the inverse of sucrose. Sucrose was the only carbohydrate that produced
a different darker blue than other carbohydrate solution.
Qualitative Analysis of Carbohydrates 9
Figure 1.Thin Layer chromatography analysis of glucose, fructose, galactose, maltose,
arabinose, ribose, xylose, sucrose, and unknown 1, 2, and 3. Solutions of 0.1 M of sugar
compound were spotted onto a silicabased gel plate and allowed to dry. Once dried, the spotted
plates were transferred into a glass chromatocab containing of approximately 500 mL solvent.
The solvent consist of chloroform, glacial acetic acid, and water (v/v 30:35:5). The solvent was
allowed to run to a height of 7 cm for approximately 20 minutes. Next, the plate was removed
from the chromatocab for further analysis. It was determined that unknown 1 had similar
migration pattern as maltose.
A thin layer chromatography was conducted to identify the unknown compounds by
comparing spots of the unknown compounds to known carbohydrate solution (Fig. 1). It was
observed that unknown 1 traveled the same distance as maltose. Furthermore, unknown 3
Qualitative Analysis of Carbohydrates 10
traveled the same distance as galactose, and unknown 4 travel similar distance as arabinose.
Unknown 2 did not appeared in the TLC.
Discussion:
The first test was the Benedict’s test. The Benedict’s test is used to identify the presence
of reducing sugar. A positive result is denoted by the formation of a yellow, green, or red
precipitate. In the Benedict’s experiment, it was revealed that glucose, maltose, and arabinose
gave a positive result for such test. On the other hand, ribose and sucrose gave a negative result
indicating that the these two carbohydrates are nonreducing sugars. The result for the Benedict’s
experiment was consistent with known facts. Also, the Benedict’s test indicated that the
unknown compound is a reducing sugar.
The second test was the Molisch test which is an eminent test used to detect the presence
of soluble carbohydrate. A red to violet color is a positive indication of a carbohydrate. It was
expected that all of the carbohydrate used would give a positive result. However, only galactose,
maltose, arabinose, and sucrose gave a positive result. Glucose, fructose, ribose, and xylose gave
a negative result. This may be due to the action of sulfuric acid (Dreywood, 1946). Since the
carbohydrate was “burned” by the sulfuric acid, further testing must be conducted to ensure that
experiment was performed properly. Furthermore, the unknown compound gave a positive result
indicating that the unknown compound is a carbohydrate.
The next test performed was the Bial’s test which is used to detect the presence of
pentoses. The presence of pentose is indicated by the appearance of a bluishgreen or olivegreen
color. None of the compounds gave a positive result for the Bial’s test. This is unexpected since
arabinose, ribose, xylose are pentose molecules and, therefore, these molecules should indicated
Qualitative Analysis of Carbohydrates 11
a positive result for the Bial’s test. It can be assumed that the there might be an error that
occurred in the experiment.
The Seliwanoff’s test is used to detect the presence of ketoses. The compounds that gave
a positive result were fructose and sucrose. It was unexpected to see that sucrose received a
positive result due to the fact that sucrose is a disaccharide composed of both glucose and
fructose. It can be postulate that the Seliwanoff's reagent reacted with the fructose component of
sucrose leading to a positive result. Furthermore, the unknown compound did not gave a positive
result for the Seliwanoff’s test, and therefore, the unknown compound could be potential be a
pentose.
In the inversion of sucrose, the only compound that changed appearance was sucrose.
Invert sugar is the process of breaking down sugar, such as sucrose, into its individual
monosaccharide components. Since sucrose is the only disaccharide used in this experiment that
can be broken down, the result was consistent with the expected. Also, this test indicates that the
unknown compound is not a sucrose molecule since the compound does not undergo the process
of inversion.
The last experiment was the thinlayer chromatography. Based on the migration pattern,
unknown 1 traveled the same distance as maltose. This indicated that the unknown compound
may be maltose. Based on all the experimental tests performed, unknown 1 is a nonsucrose,
reducing sugar. Also, the unknown compound can potential be a pentose; however, the Bial’s
test must be perform properly to confirm that the unknown compound is truly a pentose
molecule. With these information in mind, it can be postulate that unknown 1 is truly maltose.
Qualitative Analysis of Carbohydrates 12
Unknown 2,3, and 4 cannot be identified due to the lack of data. Further improvement
must be made for future experiments. In particular, additional trials must be conducted to
determine if the experiment is valid. Only one trial was performed in this experiment which does
not give a good representation of the test performed and, therefore, addition trials is essential.
Qualitative Analysis of Carbohydrates 13
References:
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benedict's solution, clinitest, testape and clinistix. Diabetes, 7(5), 398402.
doi:10.2337/diab.7.5.398
Cowart, S. L., Stachura, M. E. (1990). Glucosuria. In Walker H.K., Hall W.D., Hurst J.W. (Ed.),
Clinical methods: The history, physical, and laboratory examinations (3rd ed., pp.
653657). Boston: Butterworths.
Dreywood, R. (1946). Qualitative Test for Carbohydrate Material. Industrial & Engineering
Chemistry Analytical Edition,18 (8), 499499. DOI: 10.1021/i560156a015.
Experiment 5: Chemical Properties of Carbohydrate.
Misra, K. & Seshadri, T. R. (1968). Chemical components of the fruits of psidium guava.
Phytochemistry, 7(4), 641–645. doi:10.1016/S00319422(00)882400
Stein, W. H., & Miller, E. G. (1938). The composition of elastin. Journal of Biological
Chemistry, 125(2), 599614.
Tyrpień, K., Bodzek, P., & Manka, G. (2001). Biomedical Chromatography : BMC, 15, 50.
DOI:10.1081/SPM120025026