User guide

You can also use the bracket usage types “Crosslink(xl)”, “Graft (grf)”, and “Modification (mod)” to represent types of
repeating units in a structure-based representation.
Source-based polymers
Source-based polymer representations enclose a discrete chemical substance in brackets. The mode of polym-
erization may be obvious from context or be unknown. Source-based representations are useful when describing proc-
esses where the starting materials are known, but the exact structure of the reaction product is not.
You can create a source-based representation by enclosing a structure in “Monomer (mon)” brackets.
A source-based representation of poly(vinyl chloride) is shown in below:
You can use “Mer (mer)” brackets for components of a copolymer where those individual components are known not
to repeat themselves or they alternate with other components. For example:
Copolymers represent substances with more than one repeating unit. In general, you can use bracket type “Com-
ponent (co)”. You can also use “Copolymer, alternating (alt)”, “Copolymer, random (ran)”, and “Copolymer, block (blk)”
to represent different copolymer types in a source-based representation.
The bracket type, “Mixture, unordered (mix)” may be used to represent a collection of substances that may all be
present, but not necessarily in known amounts. Bracket type “Component (c)” indicates each mixture element, as
shown below.
ChemBioDraw 13.0
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