Question

When is it useful to convert Fischer projections to bond line views?

Answer 1

It is useful to convert Fischer projections to bond line views when you want to show the basic structure of the molecule without any stereochemical information.

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 `"OH"` groups on each of the other five carbon atoms.

You get

Note that the 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.