Deoxyribose Sugar

The deoxyribose sugar of the DNA backbone has 5 carbons and 3 oxygens. The carbon atoms are numbered 1', 2', 3', 4', and 5' to distinguish from the numbering of the atoms of the purine and pyrmidine rings. The hydroxyl groups on the 5'- and 3'- carbons link to the phosphate groups to form the DNA backbone. Deoxyribose lacks an hydroxyl group at the 2'-position when compared to ribose, the sugar component of RNA.

Structure of deoxyribose