Elucidation of the origin of chiral amplification in discrete molecular polyhedra

Abstract

The sergeants-and-soldiers effect, in which a few chiral units induce chirality in a large number of achiral molecules, is difficult to quantify at the molecular level. Here, the authors devise an elegant strategy—combining theory and a system of pure organic polyhedra with chiral and achiral vertices—to understand the mechanism of chiral amplification in discrete molecular assemblies.