How many chiral centers does sucrose have?
1 Answer
Jan 21, 2016
Sucrose has nine chiral centres.
Explanation:
Sucrose consists of a glucose unit attached to a fructose unit.
The chiral centres are the carbon atoms with four different groups attached.
There are no internal mirror images, so every carbon atom is different.
The chiral centres in sucrose are
- Carbons
#1, 2, 3, 4, 5# in the glucose unit - Carbons
#2, 3, 4, 5# in the fructose unit.
That makes a total of nine chiral centres in sucrose.
