SELIWANOFF’S TEST

Seliwanoff’s test is a compound test which separates aldose and ketose sugars. Ketoses are
differentiated from aldoses by means of their ketone/aldehyde usefulness. If the sugar contains a
ketone bunch, it is a ketose. If the sugar contains an aldehyde bunch, it is an aldose. This test is
much like Bial’s test. This test depends on the rule that, when heated, ketones are more quickly
dried out than aldoses. At the point when it is added to a solution containing ketones, a red shading
is framed quickly giving a positive test. At the point when added to an element containing aldoses,
a slower framing pink light is seen. Ketopentoses yield blue-green series while aldoses and
disaccharides give no shading change. In this test, fructose bring about cherry red shading, while
the aldose sugars like glucose give a negative result with no red shading showing up in the series.
The test reagent dehydrates ketohexoses to form 5-hydroxymethylfurfural. 5-
hydroxymethylfurfural further reacts with resorcinol present in the test reagent to produce a red
product within two minutes. In any case, if the warming is not as it is expected (which is more
than 5 minutes), aldose sugar will create a pink shading. While the sucrose (a blend of fructose
and glucose) will create a cherry red shading as a result of the fructose in it.

REFERENCE

Panji Tok, 2014, Seliwanoff's Test for Ketose Sugars, EduBio.Info, Retrieved from:
https://en.edubio.info/2017/02/seliwanoffs-test-for-ketose-sugars.html
 Bial test
Bial test is a test to check the presence of pentose. Bial test reagent consists of orcinol, HCl and ferric
chloride hexahydrate (FeCl3). Pentose is a monosaccharide with five carbons atoms. Examples of five
carbon atoms are xylose, lyxose, arabinose and ribose. They are divided into two groups which are
aldopentoses and ketopentoses. In this test, all samples when mixed with bial reagent, gives a yellow and
brown colour. The result of yellow and brown colour is a negative result. The brown and yellow colour
occurs due to dehydration of the hexose. The dehydration process forms 5-hydroxyl-furfural which when
reacted with orcinol and Fe3+ gives a negative result. This proves that the samples are made up of hexose
sugar.

For positive result, the solution should turn to bluish green colour. When pentose is boiled with presence
of HCl, a furfural form is formed via hydrolisation process. Ocinol then reacts with the furfural and the
iron to give bluish-green colour through condensation process. (jika ada space lagi di bhg discussion, jika
tidak, kamu delete sahaja. masih wani)

REFERECCE
Copyright. (1976). Introduction to Medical Laboratory Technology, iv. doi: 10.1016/b978-0-407-00154-
1.50002-6