Introduction. Secondary organic aerosols (SOA) constitute 20-90% of submicron particulate matter in the atmosphere, where they influence radiative forcing by scattering and absorbing UV radiation, and by activating cloud formation. Despite this importance, a continued low level of scientific understanding places secondary organic aerosols among the least understood components of the climate system. One key unknown concerns the oligomeric species that form from various accretion reactions between atmospheric oxidation products of biogenic volatile organic compounds. Such high molecular weight compounds are estimated to contribute up to three quarters of aerosol organic mass. Their long carbon backbones and polar terminal functional groups are reminiscent of commercial surfactants, and like biological lipids they contain stereogenic carbon atoms from their pro-chiral and chiral molecular progenitors, such as isoprene, a-pinene, and b-caryophyllene.