Inherent chirality

In chemistry, inherent chirality is a property of molecules and complexes whose lack of symmetry does not originate from a classic stereogenic element, but is rather the consequence of the presence of a curvature in a structure that would be devoid of symmetry axes in any bidimensional representation.

The expression "inherently chiral" was first used by Boehmer to describe calixarenes with XXYZ or WXYZ substitution patterns at the upper rim, and has been later extended to fullerenes with a chiral molecular framework, like C76, C78, and C84, non symmetric uranyl-salophen complexes and the protonated Schiff base of 11-cis-retinal, the chromophore of rhodopsin.