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ChemDraw

ChemDraw is a molecule editing and drawing software used to create professional quality molecular structures, diagrams, chemical reaction schemes and spectroscopic data plots. It is popular in academia and pharmaceutical/biotech companies.

What is ChemDraw?

ChemDraw is a specialized software application used to draw and edit chemical structures and reactions. It allows chemists, biologists, and other scientists to create publication-quality drawings of molecules, chemical reaction mechanisms, biopolymers, chemical process flow diagrams, and other schematics commonly used in the chemistry field.

Some key features of ChemDraw include:

  • An intuitive user interface for drawing chemical structures with tools for adding atoms, bonds, text labels, arrows, and more.
  • Extensive chemical intelligence for predicting structures, naming compounds, calculating properties, and checking for chemical validity.
  • A library of templates for common rings, linkers, monomers, and groups to facilitate drawing biomolecules and polymers.
  • Tools for calculating molecular properties and analyzing spectra.
  • Functionality for planning multi-step synthetic routes and reaction mechanisms.
  • Capabilities for graphing spectroscopic data and customizing plots.
  • Options to export drawings into various file formats for use in presentations, publications, and web pages.

ChemDraw is published by PerkinElmer Informatics, and has become the de facto standard software used to draw chemical structures amongst chemists, biochemists, and biologists both in industry and academia. Its intuitive interface, time-saving tools, and chemical intelligence system make it an essential application for anyone who needs to draw, analyze, or communicate chemical information.

The Best ChemDraw Alternatives

Top Apps like ChemDraw

ACD/ChemSketch, Chemaxon Marvin, MollyCule, JChemPaint, Gnome Chemistry Utils, ChemDoodle, BKchem, XDrawChem, Chemik, ChemistryLab, MedChem Designer, ChemJuice Grande are some alternatives to ChemDraw.

ACD/ChemSketch

ACD/ChemSketch is a widely used molecular modeling and chemical drawing software designed for chemists, biochemists, organic chemists, pharmaceutical chemists, biologists and other chemistry professionals. It allows users to draw, display and characterize chemical structures, reactions and schemes in 2D and 3D.Key features of ACD/ChemSketch include:Extensive set...

Chemaxon Marvin

Chemaxon Marvin is a powerful and comprehensive chemical software suite used for processing and managing chemical data and structures. It offers a wide range of tools for chemists and biologists to draw, display, characterize, convert, analyze, optimize, predict properties of and simulate reactions with chemical compounds.Some of the key...

MollyCule

MollyCule is an advanced molecular visualization and analysis program used to view, animate, and study atomic and molecular systems in 3D. It was originally developed at the University of Illinois and is now maintained commercially by a company called Mestecky Molecular Visualization.Some key features of MollyCule include:Interactive 3D...

JChemPaint

JChemPaint is a feature-rich, free and open-source chemical structure drawing program used to draw and visualize 2D chemical structures, reactions, and schemes. It is implemented in Java and available for Windows, macOS, and Linux.Some of the key features of JChemPaint include:Intuitive user interface with support for drawing tools...

Gnome Chemistry Utils

Gnome Chemistry Utils is a feature-rich open-source software suite for various chemistry applications. It is designed primarily for Linux systems and is integrated into the Gnome desktop environment.Some of the key features of Gnome Chemistry Utils include:2D and 3D molecule viewer and editor with support for common chemical...

ChemDoodle

ChemDoodle is open-source software for creating interactive 2D and 3D chemical molecule structures and visualizations. It allows chemists, students, researchers, and other professionals to easily draw and share publication-quality chemical structures and animations.Some key features of ChemDoodle include:Intuitive toolkit for drawing common organic molecules, polymers, Markush structures as...

BKchem

BKchem is a free, open-source 2D chemical drawing program for Linux, MacOS, and Windows. It provides an intuitive user interface and a wide range of tools to draw and edit chemical structures, reactions, polymers, and spectra.With BKchem, users can quickly sketch chemical structures using build tools, templates, and by...

XDrawChem

XDrawChem is an open-source software application for drawing chemical structure diagrams, reaction schemes, and publishing-quality figures. It is developed as part of the Blue Obelisk movement promoting open data, open source, and open standards in chemistry.XDrawChem provides a basic yet flexible set of drawing tools for constructing 2D molecular...

Chemik

Chemik is an open-source software suite for chemistry applications. It can be used for:Drawing, editing, and exporting chemical structures and reactionsAnalyzing spectral data such as NMR, IR, UV-VisPerforming chemical property predictions and calculationsPlanning synthetic routes for organic compoundsManaging chemical inventories and dataCreating high-quality chemistry publications and presentationsAs an open-source...

ChemistryLab

ChemistryLab is a feature-rich virtual chemistry laboratory software designed to assist chemistry students and educators. It provides an interactive environment for learning and teaching chemistry concepts through simulations.Key features of ChemistryLab include:Realistic 3D models of lab equipment like beakers, burners, glassware etc.Visualization and manipulation of 3D molecular...

MedChem Designer

MedChem Designer is a cheminformatics software suite developed by Simulations Plus for computer-aided drug design. It integrates a broad range of tools for medicinal chemists to facilitate hit identification, lead optimization, and preclinical candidate nomination.Key features include:2D sketchers for quickly drawing chemical structuresPredictive models for calculating physicochemical properties...

ChemJuice Grande

ChemJuice Grande is a feature-rich chemistry diagram and visualization software targeted at chemists, scientists, professors, and students. It provides an easy-to-use interface for quickly drafting high-quality drawings of molecules, reactions, and other chemical diagrams for publications, presentations, assignments, and more.Key features include:Intuitive sketching tools for drawing chemical structures...