A series of 11 chiral dopants with an atropisomeric core derived from 4,4'-dihydroxy-2,2',6:6'-tetramethyl-3,3'-dinitrobiphenyl were synthesized in optically pure form. These compounds were doped into five different smectic C (S-C) liquid crystal hosts to induce a ferroelectric S-C* liquid crystal phase, and the reduced polarization P-o was measured as a function of the dopant mole fraction xd over the range 0.005 < x(d) less than or equal to 0.05. The polarization power 6, was found to strongly depend on the core structure of the Sc host. For example. the dopant (+)-2,2',6,6'-tetramethyl-3,3'-dinitro-4,4'-bis[(4-octyloxybenzoyl)oxy]biphenyl gave delta(p) values of <30 nC/cm(2) in a phenyl benzoate S-C host and 1738 nC/cm(2) in a phenylpyrimidine S-C host; the latter is one of the highest polarization power values reported thus far in the literature. In the phenylpyrimidine S-C host, the polarization power was found to depend on the length of the dopant side chains and on the position of the atropisomeric core with respect to those of the surrounding S-C host molecules, on the time average. The polarization power followed a trend opposite to that followed by the S-C* helical pitch. Analysis of these results suggests that chirality transfer from the atropisomeric core of the dopant to those of the S-C host molecules plays a key role in amplifying the polarization induced in the phenylpyrimidine host. It is likely that such intercore chirality transfer results in an asymmetric distortion of the S-C* lattice, which in turn, further increases the conformational asymmetry of the chiral dopant by virtue of increased diastereomeric bias between the S-C* lattice and the chiral conformations of the dopant.