How Many Stereoisomers Do Hexadecanoic Acid and Oleic Acid Have?

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Hexadecanoic acid (palmitic acid) has no stereocenters, resulting in only one distinct isomer. In contrast, oleic acid features a double bond that allows for cis and trans arrangements, leading to two stereoisomers. The confusion arose regarding the role of the carboxylic acid in stereochemistry, which does not contribute to stereocenters in these cases. The correct answer to the original question is one isomer for hexadecanoic acid and two for oleic acid. This discussion clarifies the distinction between stereoisomerism and chirality.
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Homework Statement


[/B]
How many distinct stereoisomers exist for the hexadecanoic acid and oleic acid, respectively?
Please choose from one of the following options.
  • 1, 1
  • 1, 2
  • 2, 2
  • 2, 4

Homework Equations


None

The Attempt at a Solution



If you look at the following images of hexadecanoic (palmitic) acid, and oleic acid, respectively, I cannot find how they arrive at their answer.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Palmitic_acid.svg

Oleic-acid-based-on-xtal-1997-2D-skeletal.png


The correct answer is B.

In palmitic acid...where is the stereoisomer? I would be looking for something that is either cis/trans or R/S...and none of the sp3 carbons have a stereocenter (they all have at least two H's), and the only double bond is on the carboxylic oxygen. Even if you assume that it is resonant with the hydroxyl group, the CH2 group will freely rotate and not cause any fixation. So I do not see where the stereocenter is..

In oleic acid, I can see that there is one cis/trans site, but otherwise I have the same issue.

Why is the carboxylic acid counting as a stereocenter...?
 
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Must be some error, no stereoisomers here.
 
Borek said:
Must be some error, no stereoisomers here.
Thanks, that's what I wanted to confirm. Thanks Khan Academy...
 
Strange, I was always under impression stereoisomerism is other name for chirality. Seems I was wrong.
 
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