Draw the molecule once. Export every view your figure needs.
A figure that needs the skeletal structure beside the Lewis structure usually means drawing the molecule twice, and fixing it twice when it changes.
Hydroxyl keeps one structure and draws each view from it. Put the views side by side as lettered panels and export them as one figure, sized for a journal column.
Know the printed size before you submit
A figure scaled down to fit a column takes its labels down with it. A structure that reads well on screen can print with atom labels too small for the journal.
The export dialog sizes the figure for a single column (8.25 cm), a double column (17.8 cm) or a width you type. It shows the printed width and height, the bond length and the label size before you save. When a label will print under 8 pt, the minimum ACS asks for, it says so and suggests a fix. R/S labels and stereo group tags get the same check.
The Publication style uses the ACS 1996 settings: a 5.08 mm bond with 10.0 pt labels at full size. PNG files export at 300 or 600 dpi, with the resolution written into the file. SVG files keep the text as text, so you can still edit a label later.
Every view from one structure
Each panel shows the structure in the view you pick for it: skeletal, Kekulé, explicit hydrogens, Lewis with lone pairs and formal charges, the condensed formula or the sum formula. Edit the structure once and every panel shows the change.
Panels are lettered (a), (b), (c) in order. Give each one a caption, reorder them and choose how many sit in a row. Per panel, you can show or hide carbon labels, hydrogens, lone pairs, charges, aromatic circles and R/S or E/Z labels.
Structures in, figures out
Drop or paste a molfile, an SDF file or a SMILES string onto the editor. Molfiles can be V2000 or V3000. Each record in an SDF file becomes its own sketch.
The Insert box adds a structure beside your drawing. Type a SMILES or a name from its built-in list of common compounds. For any other name or a CAS number, click Look up on PubChem. That click sends only the typed text to PubChem.
Copy figure puts SVG and PNG on the clipboard, ready to paste into slides or a manuscript. You can also download SVG, PDF, PNG, molfiles and ChemDraw CDXML, or copy the SMILES, InChI or InChIKey.
Draw wedge, hash and wavy bonds, and mark AND, OR and absolute stereo groups. A structure with stereo groups exports as a V3000 molfile, because V2000 cannot store them. The status bar shows the formula, molecular weight and exact mass as you draw.
Your sketches stay in this browser
Every change saves to this browser as you work. There is no account, and no server stores your sketches: the structures you draw do not leave your computer. Text typed into the Insert box goes to PubChem only when you click Look up on PubChem.
It also means a sketch exists only in the browser you drew it in. To back up your sketches or move them to another computer, use Export all sketches on the sketch list. It writes one file, and Import reads it back.
Not in this version
- No Fischer, Haworth, chair, Newman or sawhorse projections yet.
- The 3D view shows one computed conformer. It does not search conformers or export 3D files yet.
- No condensed formula for molecules with rings. It works for chains only.
- No InChI import. The editor copies an InChI but cannot read one back. Paste a SMILES or open a molfile instead.
- No EPS export. Most drawing programs open SVG or PDF. For ChemDraw, download the structure as CDXML.
- No reaction arrows or schemes.
- No sync between computers. Export all sketches to one file to move them.