Can atoms other than carbon be the center of a stereocenter?

[VeryVesalius]

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Can atoms other than carbon be the center of a stereocenter?

 

[frosted2]

Illustrated Glossary of Organic Chemistry - Stereocenter (chiral center) 🙂

 

[VeryVesalius]

Thank you so much. 🙂

 

[unicornshadow888]

Can atoms other than carbon be the center of a stereocenter?

I don't think so. In Organic, you're only going to deal with carbon chiral centers. I've never seen a question (even on the ACS exam) that asked about chiral centers that weren't carbon... ever.

 

[longhaul3]

I don't think so. In Organic, you're only going to deal with carbon chiral centers. I've never seen a question (even on the ACS exam) that asked about chiral centers that weren't carbon... ever.

The answer to the original question is yes: any molecule that is not superimposable on its mirror image is chiral. You may never see questions about it in college organic chemistry as a pre-med, but it's not unique to carbon stereocenters.

 

[LnSin]

Well a simple answer is nitrogen. Ammonia isn't chiral but there is a process in which it inverts its lone pair position. This actually causes a change in energy (thus it releases a photon) and was the cause of the ammonia MASER discovery.


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[Amit Bansal]

Well a simple answer is nitrogen. Ammonia isn't chiral but there is a process in which it inverts its lone pair position. This actually causes a change in energy (thus it releases a photon) and was the cause of the ammonia MASER discovery.


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I agree with your statement.

 

[phillipsmurfy]

Sulfur or phosphate can both be Chiral or have chiral centers in o chem

 

[Premed2295]

The technical answer is Yes. But Organic Chemistry is the study of Carbon so you will very rarely see that on an exam, but it might come up. The only rule is that the atom can make 4 single bonds and each connects to a different group. Sulfur and phosphate therefore can be, but again its rare.