Haworth Projection

A Haworth projection is a common way of representing the cyclic structure of monosaccharides with a simple three-dimensional perspective.

The Haworth projection was named after the English chemist Sir Norman Haworth.

A Haworth projection has the following characteristics :

  • Carbon is the implicit type of atom. In the example on the right, the atoms numbered from 1 to 6 are all carbon atoms. Carbon 1 is known as the Anomeric Carbon.
  • Hydrogen atoms on carbon are implicit. In the example, atoms 1 to 6 have extra hydrogen atoms not depicted.
  • A thicker line indicates atoms that are closer to the observer. In the example on the right, atoms 2 and 3 (and their corresponding OH groups) are the closest to the observer. Atoms 1 and 4 are farther from the observer. Atom 5 and the other atoms are the farthest.
  • The groups below the plane of the ring in Haworth projections are equivalent to those on the right-hand side of a Fischer projection.

Famous quotes containing the word projection:

    “In the case of our main stock of well-worn predicates, I submit that the judgment of projectibility has derived from the habitual projection, rather than the habitual projection from the judgment of projectibility. The reason why only the right predicates happen so luckily to have become well entrenched is just that the well entrenched predicates have thereby become the right ones.”
    —Nelson Goodman (b. 1906)