stereocenters

A stereocenter is an atom—usually carbon—that has four different groups attached to it, creating a specific 3D arrangement. This arrangement results in molecules that are mirror images of each other, known as enantiomers, which can have different properties (like smell or how they react). Think of a stereocenter as a point where the spatial orientation matters; swapping the groups around can produce molecules that aren’t identical or superimposable — similar to how left and right hands are mirror images but not interchangeable.