DEOXYRIBOSE

also called d-2-deoxyribose five-carbon sugar component of DNA (q.v.; deoxyribonucleic acid), where it alternates with phosphate groups to form the backbone of the DNA polymer and binds to nitrogenous bases. The presence of deoxyribose instead of ribose is one difference between DNA and RNA (ribonucleic acid). Deoxyribose was synthesized in 1935, but it was not isolated from DNA until 1954.