Stereogenic
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In chemistry a stereogenic center is often mistaken for a chiral center. Centers are never chiral, only objects (and thus entire molecules) are chiral.
A stereogenic center of a molecule can give rise to stereoisomerism. If switching opposing ligands about a stereogenic centre gives a different isomer, then the center is stereogenic. If the resulting isomer is a non-superimposable mirror image of the original, then the two isomers are enantiomers. A molecule that possesses more than one stereogenic centre can give rise to isomers that are not enantiomers - these are known as diastereoisomers (or diastereomers). A molecule that possess more than one stereogenic centre may not be chiral, it may be a meso compound.
