Chemistry:Erythrose
Erythrose is a tetrose saccharide with the chemical formula C4H8O4. It has one aldehyde group, and is thus part of the aldose family. The natural isomer is D-erythrose; it is a diastereomer of D-threose.[1]

Erythrose was named after the sugar alcohol erythritol (Erythrit), from which it was first synthesized in 1887 by Emil Fischer and Julius Tafel. [2][3]
Erythrose 4-phosphate is an intermediate in the pentose phosphate pathway[4] and the Calvin cycle.[5]
Oxidative bacteria can be made to use erythrose as its sole energy source.[6]
Although often inconsequential, erythrose in aqueous solution mainly exists as the hydrate owing to the following equilibrium:[7]
- HOCH
2CH(OH)CH(OH)CHO + H
2O ⇌ HOCH
2CH(OH)CH(OH)CH(OH)
2
Unrelated compound
An unrelated compound, initially also named "erythrose", was isolated in 1849 from nitrated rhubarb by the French pharmacist Louis-Félix-Joseph Garot (1798–1869),[8] and was named as such because of its red hue in the presence of alkali metals (ἐρυθρός, "red").[9][10]. This unrelated substance from rhubarb is identical to the nitrated anthraquinone chrysaminic acid (Chrysaminsäure, 517-92-0 ).[11]
See also
References
- ↑ "4.5: Diastereomers" (in en). 2015-04-01. https://chem.libretexts.org/Courses/University_of_Illinois_Springfield/UIS%3A_CHE_267_-_Organic_Chemistry_I_(Morsch)/Chapters/Chapter_05%3A_Stereochemistry/4.05%3A_Diastereomers.
- ↑ Fischer, Emil; Tafel, Julius (March 31, 1887). "Oxydation der mehrwerthigen Alkohole". Berichte der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft (Deutsche Chemische Gesellschaft) 20: 1088 - 1094. doi:10.1002/cber.188702001243. https://chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/cber.188702001243. Retrieved July 17, 2026.
- ↑ Fischer, Emil (July 1890). "Synthesen in der Zuckergruppe". Berichte der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft (Deutsche Chemische Gesellschaft) 2408: 1765-3851. doi:10.1002/cber.18900230268. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ardp.19022400805. Retrieved July 17, 2026.
- ↑ Kruger, Nicholas J; von Schaewen, Antje (June 2003). "The oxidative pentose phosphate pathway: structure and organisation". Current Opinion in Plant Biology 6 (3): 236–246. doi:10.1016/S1369-5266(03)00039-6. PMID 12753973. Bibcode: 2003COPB....6..236K.
- ↑ Schwender, Jörg; Goffman, Fernando; Ohlrogge, John B.; Shachar-Hill, Yair (9 December 2004). "Rubisco without the Calvin cycle improves the carbon efficiency of developing green seeds". Nature 432 (7018): 779–782. doi:10.1038/nature03145. PMID 15592419. Bibcode: 2004Natur.432..779S.
- ↑ Hiatt, Howard H; Horecker, B L (13 October 1955). "D-erythrose metabolism in a strain of Alcaligenes faecalis". Journal of Bacteriology 71 (6): 649–654. doi:10.1128/jb.71.6.649-654.1956. PMID 13345750. PMC 314578. http://jb.asm.org/content/71/6/649.long. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
- ↑ Angyal, SJ; Wheen, RG (1980). "The Composition of Reducing Sugars in Aqueous Solution : Glyceraldehyde, Erythrose, Threose". Australian Journal of Chemistry 33 (5): 1001. doi:10.1071/CH9801001.
- ↑ Obituary of Garot (1869) Journal de pharmacie et de chimie, 4th series, 9 : 472-473.
- ↑ Garot (1850) "De la matière colorante rouge des rhubarbes exotiques et indigènes et de son application (comme matière colorante) aux arts et à la pharmacie" (On the red coloring material of exotic and indigenous rhubarb and on its application (as a coloring material) in the arts and in pharmacy), Journal de Pharmacie et de Chimie, 3rd series, 17 : 5-19. Erythrose is named on p. 10: "Celui que je propose, sans y attacher toutefois la moindre importance, est celui d'érythrose, du verbe grec 'ερυθραινω, rougir (1)." (The one [i.e., name] that I propose, without attaching any importance to it, is that of erythrose, from the Greek verb ερυθραινω, to redden (1).)
- ↑ Wells, David Ames; Cross, Charles Robert; Bliss, George; Trowbridge, John; Nichols, William Ripley; Kneeland, Samuel (1851). Annual of Scientific Discovery. Boston: Gould, Kendall, and Lincoln. p. 211. https://archive.org/details/annualscientifi29crosgoog. Retrieved 11 December 2014. "erythrose discovery."
- ↑ Tschirch, A.; Heuberger, K. (October 12, 1902). "Untersuchungen über den chinesischen Rhabarber". Archiv der Pharmazie (Deutsche Pharmazeutische Gesellschaft) 2408: 561-640. doi:10.1002/ardp.19022400805. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ardp.19022400805. Retrieved July 17, 2026.
