stereogenic atom

A stereogenic atom, often called a chiral center, is an atom in a molecule, typically carbon, bonded to four different atoms or groups. This arrangement leads to stereoisomerism, where molecules have the same formula but differ in the spatial orientation of their atoms.12

Stereoisomers are categorized into two main types:
* Enantiomers: These are non-superimposable mirror images of each other, much like a pair of hands.3
* Diastereomers: These are stereoisomers that are not mirror images.4

Molecules with one stereogenic atom exist as a pair of enantiomers, often designated as R (from the Latin for "right") or S (from the Latin for "left") based on the spatial arrangement of their substituents. This "handedness" is crucial in biological systems, as many biomolecules, like amino acids, are chiral. While enantiomers share identical physical and chemical properties, they differ in how they interact with plane-polarized light and other chiral molecules.3