Editing Stereocenter (section)

== Chirality and stereocenters ==
As mentioned earlier, the requirement for an atom to be a chirality center is that the atom must be sp<sup>3</sup> hybridized with four different attachments.<ref name=":2" /> Because of this, all chirality centers are stereocenters. However, only under some conditions is the reverse true. Recall that a point can be considered a sterocenter with a minimum of three attachment points; stereocenters can be either sp<sup>3</sup> or sp<sup>2</sup> hybridized, as long as the interchanging any two different groups creates a new [[stereoisomer]]. This means that although all chirality centers are stereocenters, not every stereocenter is a chirality center. 

Stereocenters are important identifiers for chiral or achiral molecules. As a general rule, if a molecule has no stereocenters, it is considered achiral. If it has at least one stereocenter, the molecule has the potential for chirality. However, there are some exceptions like [[Meso compound|meso compounds]] that make molecules with multiple stereocenters considered achiral.<ref name=":0" />