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Chemistry LibreTexts

7.4: Fisher Projections

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Another way of representing chiral molecules is via a Fisher projection.

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In order to designate R and S from Fisher projections, it is best to build a molecular model and then assign the absolute configuration. Fisher projections are often used for depicting sugars. For example, glucose has the structure below. Quick question: how many stereocenters does glucose have? What are the R/S configurations?

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Another convention that we use in Fisher projections is to describe the relative configuration of the respective groups with the designations erythro and threo. When two groups are on the same side of a Fisher projection, we say they are erythro; when the groups are on opposite sides, we say they are threo.

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7.4: Fisher Projections is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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