What extra information does a Bond Line View provide compared to a Fisher projection?

1 Answer
Sep 16, 2015

A bond-line view shows NO stereochemical information.

Explanation:

It shows only the connectivity of the atoms, that is, which atoms are connected to which.

For example, here is the bond-line view of glucose.

www.chemeddl.org

It could represent the structure of any of the 16 isomeric aldohexoses.

In contrast, here is the Fischer structure of D-glucose.

www.sccj.net

If you remember that the horizontal bonds represent wedges, the Fischer projection gives the absolute stereochemistry of every chiral centre in the molecule.

There is only one molecule, D-glucose, that can have this particular Fischer structure.

A Fischer structure gives much more information than a bond-line view.