Both deoxyribose and ribose belong to a class of sugars called

Options

A. trioses
B. hexoses
C. pentoses
D. polysaccharides

Answer

To solve the question, we need to identify the class of sugars to which both deoxyribose and ribose belong. Here’s a step-by-step breakdown:

### Step 1: Understand the Structures of Ribose and Deoxyribose
- **Ribose** is a sugar with the chemical formula C5H10O5. It has five carbon atoms and contains hydroxyl (–OH) groups attached to its carbon atoms.
- **Deoxyribose** is similar but has one less oxygen atom than ribose, with the chemical formula C5H10O4. It also has five carbon atoms, but one of the hydroxyl groups in ribose is replaced by a hydrogen atom.

### Step 2: Identify the Number of Carbon Atoms
- Both ribose and deoxyribose have five carbon atoms. This is crucial in determining the class of sugar they belong to.

### Step 3: Classify the Sugars
- Sugars can be classified based on the number of carbon atoms:
- **Trioses**: 3 carbon atoms
- **Tetroses**: 4 carbon atoms
- **Pentoses**: 5 carbon atoms
- **Hexoses**: 6 carbon atoms
- **Polysaccharides**: More than 6 carbon atoms or long chains of monosaccharides.

### Step 4: Conclusion
Since both deoxyribose and ribose contain five carbon atoms, they belong to the class of sugars known as **pentoses**.

### Final Answer:
Both deoxyribose and ribose belong to a class of sugars called **pentoses**.

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