Synthesis and characterization of a novel chiral solid, {Co(H
2N(CH
2)
2NH
2)
3}[V
3O
9] · H
2O (
1), containing chiral vanadium oxide chains constructed from corner sharing tetrahedral {VO
4} units and propagated by a twofold screw axis are described. The resulting [{V
3O
9}
3−]
n chains host dissymmetric {Co(H
2N(CH
2)
2NH
2)
3}
3+ species, which functions as an optically active template. The synthesis of
1 demonstrates the potential application of an optically active complex compound of D
3 symmetry as a chiral template in the synthesis of chiral chemical systems with extended structures. Crystal data for C
6H
26CoN
6O
10V
3,
1: Orthorhombic space group
P2
12
12
1 (No. 19),
a = 8.183(4)
,
b = 12.638(6)
,
c = 18.039(7)
,
V = 1865.6(14)
3,
Z = 4,
Dcalcd = 1.973 Mg m
−3,
R1 = 0.0297 (all data),
wR2 = 0.0681.