ribose vs. deoxyribose

ribose vs. deoxyribose: What’s the difference?

Deoxyribose is what puts the D in DNA (a.k.a. deoxyribonucleic acid). It’s a sugar found in the side chains of DNA. Ribose is what puts the R in RNA (a.k.a. ribonucleic acid). It’s almost the same as deoxyribose, except that one of its carbon atoms is paired with a hydrogen atom instead of both hydrogen and oxygen. The is what the prefix deoxy- indicates—that oxygen has been removed (the chemical formula for ribose is C₅H₁₀O₅; for deoxyribose, it’s C₅H₁₀O₄).