Asymmetric carbon

An asymmetric carbon is a carbon atom that is attached to four different atoms or four different groups of atoms. The duality that this produces allows for different structural compositions of carbon based molecules (e.g. sugars). By taking the number of asymmetric carbon atoms, one can calculate the possible number of enantiomers for that molecule.

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Number of isomers = 2ⁿ where n = the number of asymmetric carbons.

References

1. http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/A/asym.html