Hermann Emil Fischer
The Kiliani–Fischer synthesis, named for German chemists Heinrich Kiliani and Hermann Emil Fischer, is a method for synthesizing monosaccharides. It proceeds via synthesis and hydrolysis of a cyanohydrin, thus elongating the carbon chain of an aldose by one carbon atom while preserving stereochemistry on all the previously present chiral carbons. The new chiral carbon is produced with both stereochemistries, so the product of a Kiliani–Fischer synthesis is a mixture of two diastereomeric sugars, called epimers. For example, -arabinose is converted to a mixture of -glucose and -mannose.