Molecular structure stereogenic elements

Yet, indirect information on enantioselective complexation by silica-bound antibiotics in HPLC can be extracted from the analysis of retention data of several ligands whose structure is systematically varied to explore chemical diversity in terms of functional groups, stereogenic elements, molecular complexity, and rigidity-flexibility. 

Compounds in which one or more carbon atoms have four nonidentical substituents are the largest class of chiral molecules. Carbon atoms with four nonidentical ligands are referred to as asymmetric carbon atoms because the molecular environment at such a carbon atom possesses no element of symmetry. Asymmetric carbons are a specific example of a stereogenic center. A stereogenic center is any structural feature that gives rise to chirality in a molecule. 2-Butanol is an example of a chiral molecule and exists as two nonsuperimposable mirror images. Carbon-2 is a stereogenic center. 

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