Amplification of chirality in helical supramolecular columns

Strong amplification of chirality occurs in dynamic, but highly ordered, helical columns in n-butanol. for which one chiral seed molecule suffices to render a column of 400 molecules to become homochiral. The chiral columns are formed in a thermally dependent stepwise process. The transition from achiral stacks to helical columns is highly cooperative owing to well-defined intermolecular interactions. 'Sergeant and Soldiers' measurements allow for the calculation of the association constant and cooperativity length of the homochiral segments. The 'Sergeant and Soldiers' data on the number of molecules within a column show a strikingly good match with data obtained from a theoretical model describing the self-assembly of the discotic molecules as a function of temperature and concentration.