Why does glucose have a lower rf value than fructose?

  • Thread starter Thread starter DespicableMe
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Glucose Rf Value
Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
1 replies · 5K views
DespicableMe
Messages
40
Reaction score
0
Even though their molecular formulas are the same? Fructose is an isomer of glucose and they are both cyclic and have 5 carbons so I was wondering why fructose was higher on the TLC plate than glucose.
Thank you.
 
Chemistry news on Phys.org
It is not about molecular formulas, it is about interactions between the molecule and the stationary phase. These interactions are extremely sensitive to the molecule structure, which is why chromatography is so efficient as a separation method.