Distorted PDI compounds are particularly interesting as circularly polarized luminescent (CPL) materials and, as we can demonstrate here, the only meaningful pathway towards a CPL-compatible point group (C1, C2, D2) is via Au distortion. We expect that the CPL behavior will correlate with this measured value in PDIs, and that generally luminescent molecules with high chirality-inducing SCSD values will elicit interest as CPL materials.