Professional Documents
Culture Documents
TB 1
TB 1
MOLISCH TEST
Shows positive test for:
All carbohydrates. Monosaccharides give a rapid positive test.
Disaccharides and polysaccharides react slower.
Reactions:
The test reagent dehydrates pentoses to form furfural (top
reaction) and dehydrates hexoses to form 5-hydroxymethyl
furfural (bottom reaction). The furfurals further react with naphthol present in the test reagent to produce a purple
product (reaction not shown).
How to perform the test:
Two ml of a sample solution is placed in a test tube. Two drops
of the Molisch reagent (a solution of -napthol in 95% ethanol)
is added. The solution is then poured slowly into a tube
containing two ml of concentrated sulfuric acid so that two
layers form.
A positive test is indicated by:
The formation of a purple product at the interface of the two
layers.
2. ANTHRONE TEST
ts principle is much same as molisch test but here anthrone
reagent is used instead of molisch reagent which gives green
colored complex. The intensity of which is directly proportional to
amount of carbs present in given solution.
First carbohydrates are hydrolyzed by treating with acid to form
furfurals and hydroxy-methly furfural. These furfural are then
condensed by anthrone reagent to form a blue green color
complex. The intensity of which can easily be measured with 620630nm using photo colorimeter or spectopotometer. This