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Chirality

Chirality

Chirality is a term that describes the lack of mirror symmetry in an object. In other words, chiral objects cannot be superposed on their mirror images. For example, our feet are chiral, as the mirror image of the left foot, the right foot, cannot be superposed on the left foot.
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

Prochirality

The concept of prochirality leads to the nomenclature of the individual faces of a molecule and plays a crucial role in the enantioselective reaction. It is a concept where two or more achiral molecules react to produce chiral products. A typical process is the reaction of an achiral ketone to generate a chiral alcohol. Here, the achiral reactant reacts with an achiral reducing agent, sodium borohydride, to generate an equimolar mixture of the chiral enantiomers of the product. For example, an...

Chirality in Nature

Chirality in Nature

Chirality is the most intriguing yet essential facet of nature, governing life’s biochemical processes and precision. It can be observed from a snail shell pattern in a macroscopic world to an amino acid, the minutest building block of life. Most of the snails around the world have right-coiled shells because of the intrinsic chirality in their genes. All the amino acids present in the human body exist in an enantiomerically pure state, except for glycine - the sole achiral amino acid.

Crystal Field Theory - Tetrahedral and Square Planar Complexes

Crystal Field Theory - Tetrahedral and Square Planar Complexes

Tetrahedral Complexes
Crystal field theory (CFT) is applicable to molecules in geometries other than octahedral. In octahedral complexes, the lobes of the dx2−y2 and dz2 orbitals point directly at the ligands. For tetrahedral complexes, the d orbitals remain in place, but with only four ligands located between the axes. None of the orbitals points directly at the tetrahedral ligands. However, the dx2−y2 and dz2 orbitals (along the Cartesian axes) overlap with the ligands less than...

Fischer Projections

Fischer Projections

Learning to draw Fischer projections of molecules and understanding their relevance plays a crucial role in the visual depiction of organic molecules. A Fischer projection is a two-dimensional projection on a planar surface to simplify the three-dimensional wedge–dash representation of molecules. This is especially helpful in the case of molecules with multiple chiral centers that can be difficult to draw. Here, all the bonds of interest are represented as horizontal or vertical lines.

Chirality at Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Sulfur

Chirality at Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Sulfur

Chirality is most prevalent in carbon-based tetrahedral compounds, but this important facet of molecular symmetry extends to sp3-hybridized nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur centers, including trivalent molecules with lone pairs. Here, the lone pair behaves as a functional group in addition to the other three substituents to form an analogous tetrahedral center that can be chiral.
A consequence of chirality is the need for enantiomeric resolution. While this is theoretically possible for all...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 3, 2026

Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets

Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets

Published on: May 15, 2017

Interlayer Charge-Density-Wave Vector Phase Induced Structural Chirality.

Sen Shao¹, Wei-Chi Chiu^2,3, Tao Hou¹

¹Nanyang Technological University, Division of Physics and Applied Physics, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, 21 Nanyang Link, 637371, Singapore.

Physical Review Letters

|May 1, 2026

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Interlayer phases in charge density waves (CDWs) drive structural chirality in layered materials. This discovery aids in finding and designing new chiral CDW materials with unique quantum properties.

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Area of Science:

Condensed Matter Physics
Materials Science
Quantum Materials

Background:

Chiral charge density waves (CDWs) exhibit exotic quantum properties.
The origin of structural chirality in correlated charge order is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

To elucidate the microscopic origin of structural chirality in layered CDW materials.
To identify new materials exhibiting chiral CDW order.

Main Methods:

First-principles calculations incorporating interlayer phases of CDW vectors.
Analysis of electronic and optical properties of predicted chiral structures.

Main Results:

Identified interlayer phases as key drivers of chiral structural displacements.
Successfully reproduced chiral CDW structures for AV₃Sb₅ and 1T-TiSe₂.
Predicted 1T-NbSe₂ as a candidate for chiral CDW order.

Conclusions:

Interlayer CDW phases are crucial for emergent chirality.
Electron filling can manipulate chiral CDW states.
Opens new pathways for chiral CDW material discovery and engineering.