Question

What are the steps for converting Fischer projections to bond line views?

Answer 1

You draw a zig-zag line with the correct number of carbon atoms, then you attach the groups in the correct locations.

Explanation:

For example, the Fischer projection of D-gulose is

To convert the Fischer projection to a bond line formula you just draw a zig-zag line of six carbon atoms.

Then you put an aldehyde group at `"C-1"` and an `"OH"` group on each of the other five carbon atoms.

You get

(from www.chemeddl.org)

Note that a bond line formula gives no stereochemical information.

It shows only which atoms are connected to the other atoms.

The structure above could represent any of the fifteen stereoisomers of D-gulose.