Molecule editor - Definition and Overview

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 molecule viewers, which are often realized as small applets to show molecules in web pages.

Molecule editors

Standalone programs

• BKchem (http://www.zirael.org/bkchem) A free platform independent editor written in Python
• ChemDraw from CambridgeSoft (http://www.cambridgesoft.com/)
• IsisDraw from MDL (http://www.mdli.com/)

Applets

• JME from molinspiration (http://www.molinspiration.com/jme/)

See also

• Molecule viewer
• Molecular modelling
• Chemical databases