The discovery of nanostructural optical activity in solutions of surfactants

1 Optical activity (the ability to rotate the polariza� tion plane of linearly polarized light) is inherent to sol� utes whose molecules have neither centers nor planes of symmetry, i.e., to substances possessing chirality. The term ‘supramolecular chirality’ was introduced in supramolecular chemistry for a case of a molecular complex possessing chirality is formed as a result of the chemical interactions of both chiral and achiral com� pounds. In this work, only aggregative processes in the absence of chemical interactions are discussed. In this case, a hydrophobic effect of entropic origin causes the formation of nanostructures. It is this mechanism