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Chemistry Department
Che 331 Laboratory
ChemSketch Tutorial
Fall 2009
Introduction
ChemSketch is a free program for drawing chemical structures. You may download it
from the following address: http://www.acdlabs.com/download/ After drawing a 2D
structure, ChemSketch can convert it to a 3D structure to show you what the molecule
actually looks like. The structures can easily be imported into other documents such as
lab reports done in Word. After opening the program, click OK and the screen shown
below will appear. As an exercise, we will draw the molecule caffeine, whose structure
appears below.
CH3
N
N
N
N
H3C
CH3
O
ChemSketch has two basic modes of operation. In Structure mode, chemical structures
are generated. In Draw mode, things like text, tables, and arrows can be added. We will
move back and forth between these two modes depending upon what we want to do.
To add the nitrogen heteroatoms, click on the N atom from the left-hand vertical column.
When you place the arrow directly over one of the four positions in the ring where the N
atom should be located, notice that a CH2 will appear. This shows what is currently
present at that position. When you click, a nitrogen atom will replace the CH2 group with
a hydrogen atom automatically attached. Add the other three nitrogen atoms in the same
way. To replace the H with a single bond and a CH3 group, click on a C from the lefthand column, place the arrow over one of the three N atoms that should have a CH3
attached to it (refer back to the caffeine structure), click, and drag the bond out. When
you release the mouse, the CH3 will appear singly bonded to the nitrogen atom. Dont
worry about the length or angle of the bond. We will fix that later. Do the same with the
other two nitrogen atoms which should have methyl groups attached to them. At this
point your structure should look similar to the one shown below.
CH3
H
N
N
N
N
CH3
H3C
To add the two carbonyl groups, click on the O from the left-hand menu, place the arrow
over the CH2 where the carbonyl should be located, click and drag out the bond. When
you release the mouse, an OH group bonded to the ring will appear. To turn this into a
carbonyl, place the arrow on the center of the carbon-oxygen single bond and click once.
Add the second carbonyl group in the same way. All that remains is to add the double
bonds in the five and six-membered rings. Place the arrow over the middle of the single
bond where a double bond should be and click once. The structure is now complete. To
clean it up and standardize all the bond lengths and angles, click on Tools and in the drop
down menu choose Clean Structure. Alternatively, you can click on F9. To add text to
the structure, click on the Draw icon in the upper left-hand corner. Then click on the
Text icon, T, the fifth from the bottom on the left. A rectangle will appear. Type the
word caffeine in the box. If you highlight the word by clicking and dragging across it,
you can change the font and size. Click outside the box and a series of small black boxes
will appear around the word. If you move the arrow directly over the letters, you will be
able to click and drag the text any place on the document. To move the structure, click
on the Select/Move/Resize tool (an arrow at the upper left), place the arrow directly over
the structure, click, and drag. Center the text under the structure. The final structure with
text appears below.
CH3
N
N
N
N
H3C
CH3
O
caffeine
To change the backgound and atom colors in the 3D screen, select Options>Colors A
new screen entitled Colors will appear which will allow you to make color changes.
Click on the Next Page button to toggle through all the pages. In this exercise we will
select the Separation Apparatus on page 2. Select the separatory funnel. Notice that
the template window will dissapear returning you to your working document. Click once
to place the object. Click on the Open Template Window icon again, select the beaker,
and place it below the separatory funnel on your document. It should look like this:
CH3
OH
N
O
O
+
N
N
H3C
salicylic acid
CH3
O
caffeine
CH3
H
+
N
N
N
H3C
CH3
O
caffeine salicylate
To export your structures and drawings to Word, choose Edit>Select All followed by
Edit>Copy. In Word you can then paste the structure or drawing into your document.
Fall 2007