Switching chirality in the assemblies of bio-based amphiphiles solely by varying their alkyl chain length.

Here we show that chirality inversion can be realized solely by changing the alkyl chain length of sorbitol-alkylamine surfactants. The chirality switch phenomenon is attributed to twisting of a headgroup, which depends on the balance between hydrophobic interaction and torsional stress, resulting in various orientational orders in assemblies and chirality inversion.