AAMC #9 Orgo Question-Isomers

[Jay2910]

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Hey everyone,

Quick Q:

How did you guys tackle Item #124 on the Biological Sciences section of AAMC #9?
The question talks about different sugars and is asking for the how xylulose fits in with the rest. I didn't even know what is xylulose . . .is that something that I am supposed to know? or is there another strategy that I can use?

Help is much needed and appreciated

Thanks in advance!

 

[zakandsara]

For that problem, you can deduce the structure of xylulose given the structure of xylose, by comparing the structure of ribose and ribulose. The carbonyl on ribulose substitutes a hydroxyl group on ribose, so you can deduce that xylulose has a carbonyl group too. Then, all you have to do is find the isomers.

Hope that helped!

 

[Jay2910]

Yeah that did help!

And its not an isomer of deoxyribose because of the unequal numbers of Oxygens right? Should that be the first thing that I look to see if they are isomers or not? Can we say that xylulose is also an isomer of ribulose?

 

[zakandsara]

RIght, isomer by definition means same molecular formula but diff structural formula, so if they have the same molec formula then you can consider them isomers.