Molecular Formula:C5H10O5
Molecular Weight:150.13
Apperarance: White Podwer
Melting Point:88-92 °C(lit.)
Boiling point:191.65°C (rough estimate)
Density:1.1897 (rough estimate)
Storage:2-8°C
Use and Description
Ribose is a simple sugar and carbohydrate with molecular formula C₅H₁₀O₅ and the linear-form
composition H₄−H. The naturally-occurring form, d-ribose, is a component of the ribonucleotides
from which RNA is built, and so this compound is necessary for coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. It has a structural analog, deoxyribose, which is a similarly essential component of DNA. l-ribose is an unnatural sugar that was first prepared by Emil Fischer and Oscar Piloty in 1891. It was not until 1909 that Phoebus Levene and Walter Jacobs recognised that d-ribose was a natural product, the
enantiomer of Fischer and Piloty's product, and an essential component of nucleic acids. Fischer chose the name "ribose" as it is a partial rearrangement of the name of another sugar, arabinose, of which ribose is an epimer at the 2' carbon; both names also relate to gum arabic, from which arabinose was first isolated and from which they prepared l-ribose.