Q.Which of the following gives positive Fehling's solution test ?
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Reducing and Non-reducing Sugars
A reducing sugar is a carbohydrate that possesses a free aldehyde (−CHO) or a free ketone group — more precisely, a free anomeric carbon (the hemiacetal/hemiketal carbon that can open into an open-chain carbonyl form). Because this group can be oxidised, the sugar itself acts as a reducing agent and gives positive tests with Fehling's solution (brick-red Cu2O precipitate) and Tollens' reagent (silver mirror).
All monosaccharides — glucose, fructose, galactose — are reducing sugars. Interestingly, fructose, though a ketose, is also reducing because in alkaline medium it tautomerises to an aldose (glucose/mannose) and then reacts. Many disaccharides such as maltose and lactose are also reducing, since one of their two anomeric carbons remains free.
A non-reducing sugar has both anomeric carbons locked in the glycosidic linkage, leaving no free carbonyl. The classic example is sucrose:
Sucrose⟶glucoseC6H12O6+fructoseC6H12O6 …
Fehling's solution is reduced only by a free aldehyde group. An aldose sugar has such a free carbonyl group and reacts, whereas non-reducing sucros …
Glucose gives a positive Fehling's test because it has a free aldehyde group that acts as a reducing agent.
Fehling's solution (alkaline Cu²⁺ tartrate complex) is reduced by free aldehyde groups to give a brick-red precipitate of Cu2O. Glucose, an aldose sugar with a free –CHO group, is a reducing sugar and gives this positive test. Sucrose (a non-reducing disaccharide, glycosidic bo …
- CBSE 2026Set V11 markQ.The carbohydrates which reduce Fehling's solution and Tollens' reagent are called as ________ sugars.
›Reveal solutionSolution
Sugars with a free aldehydic or ketonic group reduce Fehling's and Tollens' reagents and are called reducing sugars.
Carbohydrates that contain a free aldehydic (−CHO) or ketonic (>C=O) group can reduce Fehling's solution (giving a red Cu2O precipitate) and Tollens' reagent (giving a silver mirror). Such sugars are called reducing sugars — e.g. …
- CBSE 2026Set ANNUAL1 markQ.What are reducing and non-reducing sugars?
›Reveal solutionSolution
The distinction is whether a free carbonyl (or a hemiacetal that can open to reveal one) is available to reduce Fehling's/Tollens' reagent.
Reducing sugars
A sugar whose anomeric carbon retains a free −OH in equilibrium with an open-chain form bearing a free aldehyde (−CHO), or — in special cases — a free ketone group capable of tautomerising to give one, is a reducing sugar. Because a free carbonyl is available, it can reduce mild oxidising agents — Fehling's solution (giving a red Cu2O precipitate) and Tollens' reagent (giving a silver mirror). Examples: glucose, fructose, and disaccharides like maltose and lactose (which still have one free anomeric OH).
Non-reducing sugars
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- CBSE 2026Set ANNUAL1 markQ.Write True or False: The most common sugar used in our homes called as glucose.
›Reveal solutionSolution
False - household sugar is sucrose, not glucose.
The most common sugar used in our homes (cane/table sugar) is sucrose, a disaccharide made of one glucose unit joined to one fructose unit. Glucose is a monosaccharide and is not what we normal …
- CBSE 2025Set A1 markQ.Match the following — Column A:(v) Monosaccharides. Match with Column B:(a) Reducing sugars(b) Semiconductor(c) Red ants(d) Conc. HCl and ZnCl2(e) Counter ions.
›Reveal solutionSolution
All monosaccharides (whether aldose or ketose) have a free, reactive carbonyl group and therefore act as reducing sugars.
A carbohydrate is classed as a 'reducing sugar' if it has a free aldehyde or (via tautomerisation) a free ketone group that can reduce mild oxidising agents such as Fehling's or Tollens' reagent. Every monosaccharide (glucose, fructose, ribose, etc.) has exactly this kind of free, un-combined carbonyl group in its open-chain form, so all monosaccharides are reducing …
- CBSE 2022Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.Which of the following gives positive Fehling's solution test ?(a) Sucrose(b) Glucose(c) Fats(d) Protein
›Reveal solutionSolution
Glucose gives a positive Fehling's test because it has a free aldehyde group that acts as a reducing agent.
Fehling's solution (alkaline Cu²⁺ tartrate complex) is reduced by free aldehyde groups to give a brick-red precipitate of Cu2O. Glucose, an aldose sugar with a free –CHO group, is a reducing sugar and gives this positive test. Sucrose (a non-reducing disaccharide, glycosidic bo …
- CBSE 2020Set NC1 markQ.What do you mean by non-reducing sugar? Give an example.
›Reveal solutionSolution
Whether a sugar reduces Tollens'/Fehling's reagent depends on whether it retains a free, reactive anomeric carbon; when both monosaccharide units' anomeric carbons are locked into the glycosidic bond, no such group remains, and the sugar is non-reducing.
A sugar shows reducing behaviour (turning Tollens' reagent into a silver mirror, or Fehling's solution into a brick-red Cu2O precipitate) if it possesses a free aldehyde or (via tautomerisation) an accessible ketone group, generally arising from a free anomeric carbon (hemiacetal −OH) that can open to the reactive carbonyl form.
In a non-reducing sugar, the glycosidic bond joining two monosaccharide units is formed using the anomeric carbons of both units, so neither anomeric carbon is left free to open into an aldehyde/ketone form — hence there is no group available to reduce Tollens'/Fehling's reagent.
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- CBSE 2019Set ANNUAL1 markQ.What are reducing sugars ?
›Reveal solutionSolution
A reducing sugar has a free -CHO/-C=O group and reduces Tollens'/Fehling's reagent; sucrose is the main non-reducing exception.
Carbohydrates that contain a free aldehydic group (in aldoses) or a free ketonic group that can tautomerise to give a reactive carbonyl species (in ketoses, via enediol formation) are called reducing sugars, because this free carbonyl group can reduce mild oxidising agents:
- Tollens' reagent (ammoniacal AgNO3) → silver mirror (Ag+→ Ag)
- Fehling's solution (alkaline Cu2+ tartrate complex) → red precipitate of Cu2O …
- CBSE 2018Set ANNUAL1 markQ.What is the structural feature characterizing reducing sugars?
›Reveal solutionSolution
A sugar is 'reducing' when at least one of its anomeric carbons is left free (not tied up in a glycosidic bond), allowing the ring to open and expose a free aldehyde/ketone group that can reduce mild oxidising agents like Tollens' or Fehling's reagent.
A carbohydrate is classified as a reducing sugar if it possesses a free aldehyde group (−CHO) or a free ketonic group that is able to reduce mild oxidising agents such as Tollens' reagent (ammoniacal AgNO3, giving a silver mirror) or Fehling's solution (giving a brick-red Cu2O precipitate).
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