A student is performing a Benedict's test on an unknown substance. The student adds the reagent (the chemical required to make a color change) and nothing happens. Which conclusion can the student make?

Answer 1

If the student performs a Benedict's test and observes no color change after adding the reagent, they can conclude that the unknown substance does not contain reducing sugars. The Benedict's test is used to detect the presence of reducing sugars, such as glucose and fructose, which react with the copper ions in the Benedict's reagent to produce a color change (from blue to green, yellow, orange, or brick red, depending on the concentration of reducing sugars). A lack of color change indicates that either there are no reducing sugars present or that the unknown substance is a non-reducing sugar or another type of compound that does not react with Benedict's reagent.