noun
or wohl reaction |vōl-
Usage: usually capitalized W
Etymology: after Alfred Wohl fl 1920 German chemist
: a sequence of reactions for converting an aldose sugar to one containing one carbon atom less (as galactose to lyxose) by forming the oxime of the original aldose and next the corresponding acetylated nitrile and finally removing hydrogen and cyanogen in the form of hydrogen cyanide by means of ammoniacal silver hydroxide