How can a carb have stereoisomers without changing the identity?

[cbs21]

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so here's an example

How many stereoisomers are there for lyxose? answer is 8

I understand that there can be stereoisomers for an aldopentose or aldohexose because those are generic terms but how can you have stereoisomers for something specific like lyxose without changing the identity of the carb? I guess you could have 2 isomers, the D and L but that's about it right?

 

[MDub1]

Remember that even though changing the arrangement of atoms in lyxose would change it's identify, those are still stereoisomers of lyxose. In other words, the 8 stereoisomers may all be distinct sugars but they are still stereoisomers. Hope this helps.

 

[cbs21]

ohhhhhhhh I'm stupid. THanks! I guess I was thinking in my head "how many stereoisomers OF lyxose are there"

 

[MDub1]

ohhhhhhhh I'm stupid. THanks! I guess I was thinking in my head "how many stereoisomers OF lyxose are there"

Don't worry about it, we've all had those moments when we've been studying something and then realized that is was actually all really simple 🙂