[Bassel]

i don't really get the idea of how is a stereogenic compound different from a chiral compound. can anyone please give me a clear explanation. and what is an example of a stereogenic -NON-chiral compound.

thank you

[spirochete]

You are mixing things that don't necessarrily need to be mixed. A stereoisomer is an isomer of a compound (same formula) with the same connectivity but a different 3 dimensional shape. There is no need for chirality to be mixed in - it may be present or it may not be present.

An example of achiral stereoisomers would be cis and trans alkenes.

[Dan]

Stereogenicity is a property of an atom or structural unit (like a double bond) within a molecule. A change in configuration at the stereogenic centre results in a different stereoisomer (enantiomer or diastereoisomer) of the molecule.

Chirality is a property of a whole molecule - all chiral molecules contain at least one stereogenic unit, but not all molecules that contain stereogenic units are chiral.

In addition to alkene isomerism already mentioned, also look up meso compounds.

Useful link: http://www.chem.qmul.ac.uk/iupac/stereo/