Locking of helicity and shape complementarity in diarylethene dimers on graphite

Upon deposition of an achiral solution of diarylethene 1 on the achiral surface of graphite, a highly ordered monolayer with large homachiral domains is formed by self-assembly. Scanning tunneling micro ropy and molecolar dynamics show that the building blocks forming this monolayer are chiral dinners. We suggest that the mechanism of formation of these chiral dinners is first, surface-Induced atropoisomerism, which provides diarylethene 1 with a fixed helicity, and second, shape recognition between atropoisomers having similar helicites.