Stereochemistry of Glucose The Fischer Proof

In the late 1800s, the stereochemical theories of van t Hoff and Le Bel on the tetrahedral geometry of carbon were barely a decade old, modern methods of product purification were unknown, and modern spectroscopic techniques of structure determination were undreamed of. Despite these obstacles, Emil Fuscher published in 1891 what remains today perhaps the finest use of chemical logic ever recorded—a structure proof of the stereochemistry of naturally occurring (+ )-glucose. Let s follow Fischer s logic and see how he arrived at his conclusions. 

---