GALACTOSE

©.H..0+«. <A sugar formed from milk sugar, or lactose, by hydrolysis. It is also produced when gum arabic and other gums are boiled with dilute sulphuric acid. It crystallizes in prisms which melt at 166° C, On oxidation with nitric acid it yields first galactonic acid and finally mucic acid, On reduction with sodium amalgam and water it is converted into the alcohol dulcitol, or dulcite. Galactose belongs to the same group of sugars as fructose (fruit sugar) and glucose (grape sugar)