Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Tetrose
A tetrose is a monosaccharide with 4 carbon atoms.
They either have an aldehyde functional group in position 1 (aldotetroses) or a ketone functional group in position 2 (ketotetroses).
The aldotetroses have two chiral centres ("asymmetric carbon atoms") and so 4 different stereoisomers are possible.
The naturally occurring aldotetroses are:
The only naturally occurring ketotetrose is D-Erythrulose.
See also
10-26-2009 08:16:03
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The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details