Are d -erythrose and l -erythrose enantiomers or diastereomers?

1 Answer
Dr. Hayek
Oct 2, 2015

Explanation:

Erythrose has two stereogenic centres with no plane of symmetry and therefore, it has #2^2=4# stereoisomers:
#R,R#
#R,S#
#S,S#
#S,R#

TheIUPAC names for d-erythrose and l-erythrose are: (2R,3R)-2,3,4-Trihydroxybutanal (D) and (2S,3S)-2,3,4-Trihydroxybutanal (L).
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Therefore, they are the stereoisomers #R,R# and #S,S# which means they are mirror images and therefore Enantiomers .

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