Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 14, 2026

Interfacial Molecular-level Structures of Polymers and Biomacromolecules Revealed via Sum Frequency Generation Vibrational Spectroscopy
Published on: August 13, 2019
Chiral selection by interfacial shearing of self-assembled achiral molecules
Núria Petit-Garrido1, Jordi Ignés-Mullol, Josep Claret
1SOC&SAM group, IN2UB and Departament de Química Física, Universitat de Barcelona, Martí i Franquès 1, 08028 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
Abstract:
We report a novel phenomenon of chiral selection in self-assembled condensates of achiral amphiphiles. The handedness of chiral textures, reproducing the collective rotational component of the molecular orientation inside submillimeter circular domains, is correlated with the sign of a vortical stirring in the aqueous subphase. We propose an explanation based on the distinctive kinetics of topological defect annihilation during domain coalescence at the initial coarsening stage of a phase-separating monolayer.
Related Concept Videos
Chirality in Nature
Chirality
Chiral objects exhibit a sense of handedness when they interact with another chiral object. For example, our left foot can only fit in the left shoe and not in the right shoe. Achiral objects — objects that have...
Prochirality
Molecules with Multiple Chiral Centers
Chirality at Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Sulfur
A consequence of chirality is the need for enantiomeric resolution. While this is theoretically possible for all...
Fischer Projections

