There are 16 possible stereoisomers of D-Glucose and one of these is said to be the preferred energy source for higher Animals. Glucose has 4 chiral carbons from which the Stereoisomers are derived ( 2^n, where n=4).
Hi Alieu Kandeh . Interesting question. I am guessing that since glycolysis involves oxidation to pyruvate, the chirality of the glucose carbons do not become an issue.
Hi there,
If you talk about D-glucose, it implies that the stereochemistry of each asymetric carbon is fixed (if you change any, it's no longer glucose (except for L-glucose)! for instance D-galactose is the D-glucose epimere on C4). So there are only 2 configurations for D-glucose depending on the anomery on C1. And to answer your question, the L-glucose which is D-glucose enantiomere is not assimilable by the cell. The 14 other diastereoisomers of D-glucose have different names and apart from D-galactose and D-mannose, they are hardly assimilable...
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