Final answer:
Samta's reaction of glucose with acetic anhydride can help identify secondary alcoholic groups in the molecule, but not the primary ones. Acetic anhydride reacts with secondary alcohols to form esters, while primary alcohols on the sixth carbon would not react under mild conditions.
Step-by-step explanation:
If Samta reacts glucose with acetic anhydride, the reaction can help to determine the number of secondary alcoholic groups in the glucose molecule, but not primary alcoholic groups. Secondary alcohols react with acetic anhydride to form esters, indicating their presence. In glucose, the hydroxyl groups (-OH) on the second, third, and fourth carbon atoms are secondary alcohols, while the hydroxyl group on the sixth carbon atom is primary. The primary alcoholic group at the sixth carbon would not react with acetic anhydride under mild conditions. Therefore, this method is helpful for identifying secondary alcohols but not for distinguishing between the primary alcoholic groups in glucose.
Glucose, being an aldohexose, has an aldehydic group (carbonyl group) at the first carbon (anomeric carbon) which is oxidized by a strong oxidizing agent to form a carboxylic acid. Secondary alcohols are normally resistant to oxidation without a strong oxidizing agent. Since acetic anhydride is not an oxidizing agent, it will not react with primary alcohol in this setting.