Acarbon with four different groups attached to it is called a chiral carbon or a chiral centre. There are two different ways for the four groups to be arranged around a chiral centre, and these alternative arrangements are designated R (for rectus, Latin for right) and S (sinister, for left). To identify whether a chiral centre is in the (R)-form or the (S)-form, we use the Cahn–Ingold–Prelog rules:
1 Identify the chiral carbon atom that has four different groups attached to it (Figure 1)
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