Why does fructose reduce Fehling's solution?

Step-by-step solution

Fructose is a monosaccharide containing a ketonic group at the second carbon and hydroxyl groups on adjacent carbons, making it an -hydroxy ketone. Under the alkaline conditions of Fehling's solution, fructose undergoes Lobry de Bruyn-van Ekenstein rearrangement. This rearrangement converts the -hydroxy ketone into an enediol intermediate, which further tautomerizes into an aldose (a mixture of glucose and mannose). The newly formed aldehydic group then readily reduces Fehling's solution. Thus, fructose reduces Feh