The graphic representation of the structure of a chemical substance allows us to read easily the relevant information about the substance, as well as the way it interacts with other substances or elements.
ChemDoodle is a program that lets you draw these graphic representations in a relatively easy manner. It has many drawing tools, but unlike other conventional drawing programs, these tools are used in very specific forms. For example, the cursor acts as if it was an electron from which you can draw other chemical compounds. You can change the attributes of the cursor to draw two electrons, radicals, a pair of electrons in a bar format, and so on. You can also add different types of rings and paste different tags such as the abbreviations of the chemical elements from the periodic table (for example, Au for gold), as well as custom texts.
The program is not very easy to use and learn. First, you need good knowledge of chemistry to use it at its full potential. Also, you need to know all the symbols and conventions used in chemistry to draw accurate graphics. Also, its price tag is rather high. There is a limited, more affordable student version, as well as an advanced 3D one. You can choose the version that best suits your needs.
You can use the free shareware version for 14 days. If you like the program and want to use it longer, then you will need to purchase a license.
v7.0 [Sep 4, 2014]
- A new and improved interface based on the feedback from the last 6 years. The new interface is focused on the content and allows you to maximize your drawing areas. Widgets are now floating and can be individually enabled and disabled.
- ChemDoodle 3D. A new application for creating 3D graphics and more for the sciences. You have full control over the 3D graphics and animations, including text. Distance, angle and torsion measurements are provided. Also a corresponding builder for 3D ChemDoodle Web Components. There is so much more.
- Full multipage document support. Create lists of pages or grids. Draw between all pages and print them out.
- BioArt. Large, full color, libraries of new art for use in biological figures, including animals, organs and organelles.
- A set of 48 safety symbols included in the glassware set.
- Significant performance improvements, in many cases 20x faster than v6. ChemDoodle will now load faster, work faster and respond faster.
- New drawing features: collapse fragments to labels, incrementing list attributes (to quickly number or designate parts of structures), new TLC options, rotate atom labels if only a single atom is selected (as opposed to the global option), and more visual specifications among others.
- Twitter integration.
- Integration with the LabArchives ELN.
- Support for both Java 6 and 7 on Mac OS X.
- Dozens more improvements and additions.
