Question

The reagent which can be used to distinguish between cane sugar and a glucose solution is:

• A. Molisch's reagent
• B. Iodine solution
• C. Baeyer's reagent
• D. Fehling's solution

Answer 1

The correct option is D Fehling's solution

Glucose is a monosaccharide and sucrose (cane sugar) is a disaccharide which is composed of glucose and fructose.


Glucose does not have any glycosidic linkage so it can be reduced by Fehling's reagent. Whereas cane sugar has a glycosidic linkage and due to absence of a free $-CHO$ group, it cannot be reduced. So, Fehling's solution can be used to distinguish between these two.

Sucrose + $C{u}^{2+}+O{H}^{-}\to$ No reaction