Morphology transition in helical tubules of a supramolecular gel driven by metal ions.

Our aim to access a particular chemical functionality on helical tubules has been achieved by the rational molecular design and synthesis of glucono-appended cardanol derivatives. For the first time, we report a chiral molecular packing with α-helical tubules, and chiral symmetry-breaking upon exposure to Cu2+ that generated the final ordered structure via an in situ morphological transition without undergoing any phase change.