Lacking all symmetry elements (other than the trivial one of a one-fold axis of symmetry), i.e. belonging to the symmetry point group C1. The term has been used loosely (and incorrectly) to describe the absence of a rotation–reflection axis (alternating axis) in a molecule, i.e. as meaning chiral, and this usage persists in the traditional terms asymmetric carbon atom, asymmetric synthesis, asymmetric induction, etc.