Chiral helicity induced by hydrogen bonding and chirality of podand histidyl moieties.

[structure: see text] The single-crystal X-ray structure determination of N,N'-bis[(S)-(+)-1-methoxycarbonyl-2-(4-imidazolyl)ethyl]-2,6-pyridinedicarboxamide (L-BHisPA) and the D-isomer (D-BHisPA) derived from the corresponding chiral histidine revealed a left- and right-handed helical conformation, respectively, through intramolecular hydrogen bonding and chirality of the podand histidyl moieties. Furthermore, each helical molecule is connected by continuous intermolecular hydrogen bonds to afford a left- or right-handed helical assembly, respectively, in the crystal packing.