Helical conformation cholesteric handedness

From a cholesteric induction experiment, one can obtain chiral information on the induced cholesteric (namely, pitch and handedness) and therefore the helical twisting power of the dopant in that solvent (at a certain temperature). If a model or molecular theory relating molecular chirality to mesophase chirality is available, one can infer stereochemical information about the dopant (absolute configuration, preferred conformation). 

In the held of thermotropic cholesterics, the most promising approach seems to be that reported by Nordio and Ferrarini22 23 for calculating helical twisting powers. It allows one to tackle real molecules with rather complex structures and to describe them in detail. The model is currently being extended to include a better description of nematic solvents and specific solute-solvent interactions. Once tested also for conformationally mobile molecules, this model could allow the prediction of the handedness of single-component cholesterics, and, in the held of induced cholesterics, very interesting information on solute molecules could be obtained. 

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