Figure 5. Induction and amplification of homochirality via specific recognition between BIC trimer and octanol.

(a) Illustration of the induction of homochirality. The alkoxy chains in BIC are replaced by methoxy groups for simplicity. The blue and green arrows indicate the direction of the chiral pockets formed by the leftover hydrogen bonding sites in the BIC trimers, which point from the –OH group to the –C=O group. The red crosses indicate that the units are unstable. (b) Possible interdigitation modes of the neighouring trimer units at the R-OA/HOPG and S-OA/HOPG interface. The trimer units are coloured for identification. The red crosses represent the structures that are unfavoured.