Fischer projection
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projection formula in which vertically drawn bonds are considered to lie below the projection plane and horizontal bonds to lie above that plane
~7 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Fischer projection of D-Glyceraldehyde. Projection of a tetrahedral molecule onto a planar surface. Visualizing a Fischer projection.
In chemistry, the Fischer projection, devised by Emil Fischer in 1891, is a two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional organic molecule by projection. Fischer projections were originally proposed for the depiction of carbohydrates, such as sugars, and used particularly in organic chemistry and biochemistry. The main purpose of Fischer projections is to visualize chiral molecules and distinguish between a pair of enantiomers. The use of Fischer projections in non-carbohydrates is discouraged, as such drawings are ambiguous and easily confused with other types of drawing.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Fischer projection” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.