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+ Glucose
+ Biochemistry
+ Chemistry
+ Organic chemistry
+ Isomerism
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Melody Schafer

Are D-glucose and L-glucose enantiomers or diastereomers?

Dolores C Aquino  Follow

L-glucose is the mirror image of D-glucose, so they are enantiomers.

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Alan Feldman  Follow

Enantiomers.

D-Glucose (also known as dextrose) and L-glucos are stereoisomers that are mirror images of each other. They differ only in their orientation of the hydroxyl group at C-1. This means they have exactly the same chemical formula but different physical properties.

The difference between these two compounds is that D-glucose has its hydroxyl group pointing towards the right side of the molecule while L-glucose has this group pointing to the left.

In chemistry, we use the prefixes d and l to denote whether the oxygen atom is directed toward the right or left side of the molecule. So, if we were to draw out the molecular structure of glucose, we would write it like this:

This is called the Fischer projection.

So, what does this mean? Well, in terms of the question posed above, we can say that D-glucoses and L-glucoses are enantiomers because they have the same chemical formula but are not identical.

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Caren McElrea  Follow

L-glucose is the mirror image of D-glucose, so they are enantiomers.

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