The orientation and the intramolecular relaxation due to adsorption of the chiral phenanthrene-derivative heptahelicene, C30H18, on Cu(111) and Cu(332) surfaces have been investigated by means of angle-scanned full-hemispherical x-ray photoelectron diffraction. Although the C 1s diffraction patterns of the adsorbed submonolayer coverage helicene films exhibit scattering anisotropies of less than two percent, a detailed analysis involving simple molecular mechanics calculations of the atomic coordinates, photoelectron diffraction single-scattering cluster calculations and an R-factor analysis permits the determination of the helicene molecular orientation. On Cu(111), the molecules are found to bind to the substrate surface via their terminal phenanthrene group oriented parallel to the surface plane, while on Cu(332) the three terminal C-6 rings are oriented parallel to the (111) terrace plane. Six azimuthal molecular orientations are found to coexist on Cu(111), on Cu(332), however, the step–molecule interaction leads to a unique azimuthal alignment of the heptahelicene molecules. The heptahelicene on Cu(332) system thus represents a chiral surface with single-phase orientational order. © 2001 American Institute of Physics.