Chiral superstructure of aragonite similar to Turritella terebra shell induced by CTAB's adsorption chirality.

A twisted dumbbell-like chiral superstructure can be easily assembled in aragonite under the co-action of CTAB and Mg 2+ , producing a microstructure that is very similar to that of Turritella terebra shell. Asymmetric adsorption of the CTAB head group on aragonite, namely "adsorption chirality", is the reason for the chiral assembly.