R or S designation

howard r. kletke (107744.2473@compuserve.com)
Thu, 13 Mar 1997 00:31:42 -0500

When designating whether a stereocenter is R or S, on a molecule
such as Cortisone on page 1112 in Solomons, a question of which direction
to follow along the carbon chain arises because of the cylic nature of the
molecule. If, when deciding which carbon atom has the highest priority,
you have a choice of direction, should you use the path which would give it
highest priority?
-Monica