Molecule editor

A molecule editor is a computer program for drawing and editing chemical structures. The resulting two-dimensional (flat) representations of molecules or chemical reactions can be used as illustrations or for querying chemical databases. There also exist three-dimensional molecule editors for the construction of molecule models, usually as part of molecular modelling software packages.

Most molecule editors use proprietary file formats, but most can read and write several file formats, including SMILES, a short ASCII-representation of molecules.

Files generated by two- or three-dimensional molecule editors can also be displayed by molecular graphics tools, which can be realized as a small applet to show molecules in web pages.

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Molecule editors

Standalone programs

• AGM Build
• ACD/ChemSketch (ACD/Labs), also available as freeware.
• ChemDraw
• ISIS Draw (MDL)
• BKchem: Open Source, GPL, Python.
• Smormoed: Open Source, modified BSD license, C programming language. Available for Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X
• JChemPaint (JCP): Open Source, LGPL Java. Based on the Chemistry Development Kit (CDK).
• XDrawChem: Open Source, GPL, C++. Based on OpenBabel. Available for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X
• ChemTool, free software editor
• ChemAxon's MarvinSketch/View: chemical editor and viewer - desktop version (Java Beans). ::Free on your desktop.
• ChemAxon's MarvinSpace: 3D macromolecular visualization and ligand editing - desktop version (Java Beans). ::Free on your desktop.
• molsKetch: Open Source, GPL, multiplatform (Qt4-based) editor

Applets

• SDA from ACD/Labs
• JME from molinspiration
• ChemAxon's MarvinSketch: chemical editor Java Applet implementation. ::Free for free web pages. ::Free on your desktop.
• ChemAxon's MarvinSpace: 3D macromolecular visualization and ligand editing. ::Free for free web pages. :: Free on your desktop.
• JChemPaint: Open Source, LGPL Java, demo.

Online editors

• PubChem online molecule editor, supports SMILES/SMARTS and InChI as well as all common chemical file formats.
• Marvin Molecule editor and Viewer. Supports all major formats and structure/query features. This implementation also includes unlimited structure based predictions for a range of properties (pKa, logD etc)
• Molinspiration WebME molecule editor based on Web2.0 and Ajax technology which does not require Java

See also

• Molecular modelling
• Molecular graphics
• Chemical databases
• PubChem
• ChemSpider
• Software for molecular mechanics modeling