stereogenic centers?

[134317]

Lovastatin


I have a Kaplan book that says the carbon at the double ring barrier with the hydrogen coming out of the page is a stereogenic center.

I think this is wrong, because since it has two hydrogens attached to it, it can't possibly be a chiral center (I learned that it has to have four different things attached). Can anyone confirm this or explain where I'm wrong?

Thanks.

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[MSTPbound]

Lovastatin


I have a Kaplan book that says the carbon at the double ring barrier with the hydrogen coming out of the page is a stereogenic center.

I think this is wrong, because since it has two hydrogens attached to it, it can't possibly be a chiral center (I learned that it has to have four different things attached). Can anyone confirm this or explain where I'm wrong?

Thanks.

It only has one hydrogen attached to it. The other three attachments are two sp3 carbons and one sp2 carbon. And yes, it is chiral.

 

[134317]

Thanks. I'm an idiot. I imagined a second hydrogen there.

 

[MSTPbound]

Thanks. I'm an idiot. I imagined a second hydrogen there.

No problem. And you're not an idiot. Half the time the hydrogens are invisible, right? So it can get tricky keeping track of when they're NOT there... especially as molecules get more complex.

Cheers,

-MSTPbound