organic chemistry Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the science, scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic matter, organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain ...

, the Le Bel–Van 't Hoff rule states that the number of

stereoisomer In stereochemistry, stereoisomerism, or spatial isomerism, is a form of isomerism in which molecules have the same molecular formula and sequence of bonded atoms (constitution), but differ in the three-dimensional orientations of their atoms in ...

s of an

organic compound Some chemical authorities define an organic compound as a chemical compound that contains a carbon–hydrogen or carbon–carbon bond; others consider an organic compound to be any chemical compound that contains carbon. For example, carbon-co ...

containing no internal planes of symmetry is , where represents the number of asymmetric carbon atoms. French chemist Joseph Achille Le Bel and Dutch chemist Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff both announced this hypothesis in 1874 and that this accounted for all molecular asymmetry known at the time. As an example, four of the carbon atoms of the

aldohexose In chemistry, a hexose is a monosaccharide (simple sugar) with six carbon atoms. The chemical formula for all hexoses is , and their molecular weight is 180.156 g/mol. Hexoses exist in two forms, open-chain or cyclic, that easily convert into e ...

class of molecules are asymmetric, therefore the Le Bel–Van 't Hoff rule gives a calculation of 2⁴ = 16 stereoisomers. This is indeed the case: these chemicals are two

enantiomer In chemistry, an enantiomer (Help:IPA/English, /ɪˈnænti.əmər, ɛ-, -oʊ-/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''ih-NAN-tee-ə-mər''), also known as an optical isomer, antipode, or optical antipode, is one of a pair of molecular entities whi ...

s each of eight different

diastereomers In stereochemistry, diastereomers (sometimes called diastereoisomers) are a type of stereoisomer. Diastereomers are defined as non-mirror image, non-identical stereoisomers. Hence, they occur when two or more stereoisomers of a compound have dif ...

: allose, altrose,

glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecular formula , which is often abbreviated as Glc. It is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. It is mainly made by plants and most algae d ...

mannose Mannose is a sugar with the formula , which sometimes is abbreviated Man. It is one of the monomers of the aldohexose series of carbohydrates. It is a C-2 epimer of glucose. Mannose is important in human metabolism, especially in the glycosylatio ...

gulose Gulose is an aldohexose sugar. It is a monosaccharide that is very rare in nature, but has been found in archaea, bacteria and eukaryotes. It also exists as a syrup with a sweet taste. It is soluble in water and slightly soluble in methanol. Neit ...

, idose,

galactose Galactose (, ''wikt:galacto-, galacto-'' + ''wikt:-ose#Suffix 2, -ose'', ), sometimes abbreviated Gal, is a monosaccharide sugar that is about as sweetness, sweet as glucose, and about 65% as sweet as sucrose. It is an aldohexose and a C-4 epime ...

, and talose. : Aldolhexose stereo

References

Stereochemistry Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff {{Stereochemistry-stub