Nelson’s reagent was evolved in a search for a colorimetric reagent that would give intense, stable and reproducible colors with reduced alkaline copper reagents.

What is Nelson's method?

The Nelson-Somogyi method is one of the classical and widely used methods for the quantitative determination of reducing sugars. PRINCIPLE. The reducing sugars when heated with alkaline copper tartrate reduce the copper from the cupric to cuprous state and thus cuprous oxide is formed.

What is Arsenomolybdate reagent?

Nelson’s arsenomolybdate, the chromogenic reagent in Somogyi-Nelson method, was replaced by Folin-Ciocalteu phenol reagent. The major object was to remove the toxic arsenic compounds from the color reaction system. The color-producing ability of the phenol reagent was considerably lower than that of Nelson’s reagent.