The new helical molecule (right) was due to the different length strands (blue and gray) a spatial arrangement of a (schematized in the middle), similar to the railing of a spiral staircase (left).
BASEL, SWITZERLAND: Chemists at the University of Basel have managed to twist a molecule in a novel way by different combined long molecular strands together. In this case, the longer strand winds like a stair railing around a central axis, and there is a mirror-image structure, which has special physical properties.
http://www.worldofchemicals.com/media/academy/new-novel-method-to-twist-molecule/7778.html