Circular dichroism (CD) spectra of the complexes between metalloporphyrins and chiral amino acid derivatives exhibited either split type induced CD or single peak induced CD in the Soret region depending on the host-guest combination. Systematic studies on the complexation of amino acid derivatives by porphyrin hosts indicate that intermolecular hydrogen bonding to the carbonyl group of the guest is necessary for the split type induced CD to occur. Molecular orbital calculations of the rotational strength of a porphyrin-amino acid ester complex by the MNDO method predict that the ICD of porphyrin-amino acid ester complexes is determined by the relative geometry of the carbonyl group and the porphyrin plane. The relative geometry of the chromophores expected from the X-ray crystallographic analysis of a complex between leucine methyl ester and a similar host then gives split type induced CD, in agreement with experiment. These experimental and theoretical results indicate that the coupling between the magnetic transition dipole moment (m(j)) and the electric transition dipole moment (mu(j)) of a carbonyl group and the electric- transition dipole moment (mu(i)) of the porphyrin Soret band makes an important contribution to the observed induced CD.