The reaction between sodium hydrosulfite (Na2S2O4), also known as sodium dithionite, and glyoxylic acid (HOOCCHO) in a basic medium can lead to interesting outcomes, primarily due to the reducing nature of sodium hydrosulfite and the reactivity of glyoxylic acid.
In basic conditions, sodium hydrosulfite can act as a reducing agent, and glyoxylic acid is known to have reactive aldehyde functionality. The basic environment will deprotonate the