In organic chemistry, Fehling's solution is a chemical reagent used to differentiate between water-soluble carbohydrate and ketone functional groups, and as a test for reducing sugars and non-reducing sugars, supplementary to the Tollens' reagent test. The test was developed by German chemist Hermann von Fehling in 1849.
On the left, the solution in the absence of reducing sugars. On the right, copper oxide, which would appear in the bottom of the solution if reducing sugars are present.
In chemistry, a reagent or analytical reagent is a substance or compound added to a system to cause a chemical reaction, or test if one occurs. The terms reactant and reagent are often used interchangeably, but reactant specifies a substance consumed in the course of a chemical reaction. Solvents, though involved in the reaction mechanism, are usually not called reactants. Similarly, catalysts are not consumed by the reaction, so they are not reactants. In biochemistry, especially in connection with enzyme-catalyzed reactions, the reactants are commonly called substrates.
Reagents, such as sulfur (pictured), are the starting materials used in chemical reactions.