Bonus question: A disaccharide (I) often found in mushrooms and other fungi is called tr ehalose. A disaccharide (II) is a maltose. What is the major dilference in chemical reactivity between the two disaccharides? What is the major difference in optical activity between the two disaccharides? Explain. ?? ? OH CH-OH OH H Solution 1) Trehalose is a non-reducing disaccharide. It does not easily reduce another reactant. Maltose is a reducing disaccharide and it easily gets oxidised. Hence maltose reacts easily in the presence of an oxidising agent. 2) Maltose shows mutarotation while trehalose shows normal optical rotation in single direction. Mutarotation is change in optical rotation because of change in the equilibrium between two anomers when the corresponding stereo enters interconvert. This is shown by cyclic sugars. .