Thursday, June 12, 2008

Finding a 3D structure of your molecule

Finding a 3D structure of your molecule Before you begin to search for a 3D structure, you should have some idea of what class of molecules yours belongs to. You should be able to find a 3D image of your molecule on one of the websites below or through the other options listed at the bottom of this page. Note: Some of these websites require special browser plug-ins or particular versions of a given browser. Carefully read the pertinent info on the website in order to guide your efforts. The Chemistry Department Computer Lab (Room #2216) has all of the necessary software installed. http://www.chemfinder.com This website will provide Lewis structures for most molecules and, with a plug-in that must be downloaded, will provide a 3D representation. http://www.biocheminfo.org/klotho/compound_list.html This list includes 439 biologically active compounds roughly listed alphabetically. If your compound is known by more than one name, this site may have your compound listed by a different name than you were given. The images here can be printed out directly or by right clicking you can save them to a disk. Be careful because some of the structures are not ball-and-stick models. http://www.nyu.edu/pages/mathmol/library This site has many biological molecules. You need to know the class of compounds to which yours belongs to facilitate your search. http://www.iconbazaar.com/molecules A great site for prescription drug structures. http://www.wellesley.edu/Chemistry/Flick/molecules/newlist.htm An alphabetical listing of molecules containing many small organic molecules. http://www.3dchem.com/ Some of the more hard to find molecules will appear on this website as “Molecules of the month” or in the “A to Z Index of Structures”. They all appear in 3D structures. Other options: —If the molecule is in your text, check the CD that came with your text for a 3D structure. Look in the “Molecule” folder on the CD. —Try an internet search with an engine such as Google. To learn more chemistry join CHEMISTRY LEARNERS GROUP here: http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/chemistry_learners/