It was Edmund Hirst and Clifford Purves, in the research group of Walter Haworth, who conclusively determined that the hexose sugars preferentially form a pyranose, or six-membered, ring.
Foi Edmund Hirst e Clifford Purves, no grupo de investigación de Walter Norman Haworth, os que determinaron concluintemente que os azucres de hexosa forman preferentemente unha piranosa, ou un anel de seis membros.