Formulas Containing Only One Asymmetric Carbon Atom

Formulas Containing Only One Asymmetric Carbon Atom 

It may seem that the formula for a substance containing only one asymmetric carbon atom should be less subject to misinterpretation than formulas involving many such atoms. However, such is not the case and the reason for this apparent anomaly is that the essence of Fischer s first convention, as expressed on p. 19, is not applicable unless there are two or more asymmetric carbon atoms in the structure. Consider the generalized formula XXX is it to be interpreted as representing the model 

XXXI or the model XXXII, which are enantiomorphs Misinterpretation can be avoided in such cases if one uses the appropriate XXXI or XXXII, remembering that the dotted line represents the unseen edge of an opaque tetrahedron. The actual tetrahedron can be placed on the 

XXXV for the related levorotatory n-lactic acid is often misunderstood as implying XXXVII rather than the actual XXXVI. 

Examples of Unusual Formulas from the Afiose Series 

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VII. Formulas Containing Only One Asymmetric Carbon Atom. 20... 

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