Define Quantitative Procedures in Carbohydrates?

You have learnt how to identify some individual monosaccharides, disaccharides and polysaccharides. However, if we were asked to estimate the quantity of a monosaccharide, disaccharide or polysaccharide present in a given solution, would you be able to do so? Certainly, we could do so through the quantitative techniques. Quantitative analysis, we already know, involves the measurement of the amount of a substance present. This measurement can be done in a solution, a foodstuff, a body fluid or in a tissue.

Quantitative analysis shares many of the reactions and methods used in qualitative analysis. However, this type of analysis requires close monitoring and more accurate measurements. As already discussed above, reducing sugars like glucose possesses a free aldehyde group, which has the property of reducing the ions of certain metals such as copper, bismuth, mercury, iron and silver. The majority of the methods for determination of glucose or other sugars are based upon the ability of these carbohydrates to reduce metallic ions in alkaline medium of which copper and ferricyanide are commonly used. The extent of reduction is determined by colorimetric, titrimetric or gasometric methods. In this section we shall get to learn about the titrimetric and the colorimetric estimation of carbohydrates.