A reaction characteristic of vicinal diols is their oxidative cleavage on treatment with periodic acid `(HIO_(4))`. The carbon-carbon bond of the vicinal diol uinit is broken and two carbonyl groups result. Periodic acid is reduced to iodic acid `(HIO_(3))`
Cyclic diols react to give dicarbonyl compounds. The reactions are faster when the hydroxyl gorups are cid than when they are trans but both stereoisomers are oxidised by periodic acid. Periodic acid cleavage of vicinal diols is often used for analytic purposes as an aid in structure determination. By identifying the carbonyl compounds produced, The constitution of the diol may be deduced.
When arabinose
is oxidised by `HIO+_(4)`, then formaldehyde and formic acid are obtained. Number of molecules of formic acid and formaldehyde obtained respecitively are `:`
A. 3,2
B. 4,1
C. 1,4
D. 2,3
