Erythrose
Erythrose is a tetrose saccharide with the chemical formula C4H8O4. It has one aldehyde group, and is thus part of the aldose family. The natural isomer is D-erythrose; it is a diastereomer of D-threose.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Erythrose was first isolated in 1849 from rhubarb by the French pharmacist Louis-Félix-Joseph Garot (1798-1869),<ref>Obituary of Garot (1869) Journal de pharmacie et de chimie, 4th series, 9 : 472-473.</ref> and was named as such because of its red hue in the presence of alkali metals (ἐρυθρός, "red").<ref>Garot (1850) "De la matière colorante rouge des rhubarbes exotiques et indigènes et de son application (comme matière colorante) aux arts et à la pharmacie" (On the red coloring material of exotic and indigenous rhubarb and on its application (as a coloring material) in the arts and in pharmacy), Journal de Pharmacie et de Chimie, 3rd series, 17 : 5-19. Erythrose is named on p. 10: "Celui que je propose, sans y attacher toutefois la moindre importance, est celui d'érythrose, du verbe grec 'ερυθραινω, rougir (1)." (The one [i.e., name] that I propose, without attaching any importance to it, is that of erythrose, from the Greek verb ερυθραινω, to redden (1).)</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Erythrose 4-phosphate is an intermediate in the pentose phosphate pathway<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and the Calvin cycle.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Oxidative bacteria can be made to use erythrose as its sole energy source.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Clear-left
Although often inconsequential, erythrose in aqueous solution mainly exists as the hydrate owing to the following equilibrium:<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>