How do you locate a chiral center?

Chiral centers are tetrahedral carbon atoms that are connected to four different substituents. To locate a chiral center in a compound, first draw out the compound to show all of its bonds. Then, look for carbons that are connected to four different substituents. These carbons are chiral.

Chiral carbons can be denoted as "R" or "S" depending on their configuration. The substituents of a chiral carbon can be prioritized by their atomic numbers. Higher atomic numbers have higher priority. After numbering the substituents by their priority numbers, they will either follow a clockwise or counter-clockwise manner. Clockwise configurations are known as R and counter-clockwise configurations are known as S.