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DrewJ's avatar

Does a dehydration reaction take a water molecule away from the end product?

Asked by DrewJ (436points) October 6th, 2015

I got a question wrong a my biology exam that I think is right. My teacher did not let us take the exam home and I don’t remember the exact wording but:

In a DEHYDRATION REACTION, there is a loss of a water molecule. I know this to be true from my studying and from a quick google search. However, the water molecule that is lost, will it be taken away from the end product of what is created?

For example, say that C6,H8,O4 binds to another C6,H8,O4 with a dehydration reaction. (numbers are subscripts, I can’t type subscripts here)

Will the result be C12,H16,O8 or will it be C12,H14,O7 because 1 water molecule is lost due to the dehydration reaction?

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4 Answers

Zaku's avatar

Seems to me the result would be C12,H14,O7 + H2O (or some other number of H2O molecules (e.g. C12,H10,O5 + 3 x H2O) and possibly other products – I have no idea what the actual reaction is like), plus or minus some energy.

Zaku (30555points)“Great Answer” (1points) Flag as…
DrewJ's avatar

@Zaku Really appreciate your response and your help, i kind of need someone who knows though.

DrewJ (436points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…
RocketGuy's avatar

If it is supposed to be a dehydration reaction, H2O is should be one of the products. So the reaction should be:
C6H8O4 + C6H8O4—> C12H14O7 + H2O

RocketGuy (15497points)“Great Answer” (2points) Flag as…
DrewJ's avatar

Thanks what i thought, thanks so much

DrewJ (436points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…

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