Question

Which of the following is deoxyribose?
(a) ${ C }_{ 5 }{ H }_{ 10 }{ O }_{ 5 }$
(b) ${ C }_{ 5 }{ H }_{ 10 }{ O }_{ 4 }$
(c) ${ C }_{ 6 }{ H }_{ 12 }{ O }_{ 6 }$
(d) ${ C }_{ 6 }{ H }_{ 12 }{ O }_{ 5 }$

Answer 1

Hint: Deoxyribose is a pentose sugar found in the DNA. The two ends of deoxyribose join to the phosphate group and nitrogenous bases each.

Complete step by step answer:
${ C }_{ 5 }{ H }_{ 10 }{ O }_{ 4 }$ is the chemical formula of deoxyribose. deoxyribose is a pentose sugar found in genetic material, i.e. DNA. It is also called 2deoxyribose. It is almost similar to ribose sugar which is the component of RNA, another genetic material.

Additional Information:
- Deoxyribose is a pentose monosaccharide.
- It is also known as 2- deoxyribose and it is a component of DNA.
- As its chemical formula suggests, deoxyribose is made up of 5 carbon, 10 hydrogen, and 4 oxygen atoms.
- The five carbon atoms form a pentagonal shape. The structure is similar to ribose, which is present in its name as well. Ribose is also a pentose sugar, in which every carbon atom has one oxygen. The only difference between deoxyribose and ribose is the lack of one oxygen atom in deoxyribose.
- The lack of oxygen is to allow other molecules or groups of atoms to bind with it and form a DNA sequence. Because of its structure, it forms the backbone of DNA. The phosphate group and nitrogenous base connect to each of its ends.
- The double- stranded DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid consists of nucleotides, which are long chains of deoxyribose. DNA and RNA both are genetic material but RNA is single- stranded and made of ribose.
So, the correct answer is ${ C }_{ 5 }{ H }_{ 10 }{ O }_{ 4 }$.

Note: Deoxyribose is the sugar that constitutes the sequence of DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) . It's similar to a ribose which is found in RNA. The difference between these two is that deoxyribose doesn’t have a 2-C OH group, whereas ribose has that. The chemical formula of deoxyribose and ribose should be remembered in order to solve this type of question.