Step 1: Concept
Reducing sugars are carbohydrates that possess a free aldehyde or ketone group, allowing them to act as reducing agents in chemical reactions like Fehling's or Benedict's tests.
Step 2: Meaning
In a non-reducing sugar, the functional groups (anomeric carbons) are involved in a glycosidic bond and are not free to open into a chain form to reduce other substances.
Step 3: Analysis
Glucose and Fructose are monosaccharides with free functional groups. Maltose is a disaccharide where one anomeric carbon is free. In Sucrose, the glycosidic bond is formed between the anomeric carbon of glucose and the anomeric carbon of fructose, locking both functional groups.
Step 4: Conclusion
Since Sucrose lacks a free aldehyde or ketone group, it cannot reduce metallic ions and is classified as a non-reducing sugar.
Final Answer: (D)