Glyceraldehyde definition

Fischer projections are however, unsatisfactory when considering the physical properties and chemical reactivity of monosaccharides for which definitive spatial formulations are necessary. These are given below for D-glyceraldehyde, D-erythrose and D-threose, for which the (/ ,S configuration may be readily assigned at the appropriate chiral carbons. 

The discovery that -imines obtained from a variety of isopropylidene protected sugar open-chain aldehydes and ketenes, or ketene equivalents afford cz5-substituted 8-lactam adducts usually with a high asymmetric induction and definite relative geometry depending on the absolute configuration of the stereogenic center next to the imine carbon atom (Scheme 1) [21-24], prompted many laboratories to exploit this reaction in a number of syntheses. Imines derived from both easily available enantiomeric forms of 2,3-0-isopropylidene-glyceraldehyde are particularly attractive. 

While D-glyceraldehyde is dextrorotatory (by definition), other d sugars are not necessarily dextrorotatory. For example, D-erythrose and D-threose are actually levorotatory. 

---