A Chiral Van Der Waals Material Self-Assembled from the High Symmetry Molecules C60 and SnI4

The design of new chiral materials usually requires stereoselective organic synthesis to create molecules with chiral centers. Less commonly, achiral molecules can self-assemble into chiral materials, despite the absence of intrinsic molecular chirality. Here, we demonstrate the assembly of high-symmetry molecules into a chiral van der Waals structure by synthesizing crystals of C60(SnI4)2 from icosahedral buckminsterfullerene (C60) and tetrahedral SnI4 molecules through spontaneous self-assembly. Our results represent the remarkable emergence of chirality from the self-assembly of two of the most highly symmetric molecules, demonstrating that almost any molecular precursor can be considered when designing chiral assemblies.