How many chiral carbons are found in an aldohexose? How many D and L-isomers are possible in each? State the relationship between D-and L-isomers of an aldohexose. Give example

Explanation

The structural formula of aldohexose is:
`underset(underset(OH)(|))(CH_(2))- underset(underset(OH)(|))overset(**)(CH) - underset(underset(OH)(|))overset(**)(CH) - underset(underset(OH)(|))overset(**)(CH) - underset(underset(OH)(|))overset(**)(CH) - CHO`
Number of chiral carbons in aldohexose (n) = 4, the number of 3-D isomers `= 2^(n) = 2^(4) = 16`.
Out of these 16 isomers, 8 are of D- and 8 are of L-configuration. The D-and L-isomers of the same aldohexose are enantiomers, e.g., `D` glucose and `L` glucose.