User guide

Chemically significant text
Often, it is simpler to write a chemical formula like MeOH or H
2
O than to draw an atoms-and-bonds structure. Chem-
BioDraw 13.0 interprets any unambiguous structural formula. For example, CH
3
COCH
2
CH
3
is recognized as methyl
ethyl ketone and MeOH is recognized as methanol. On the other hand, C
6
H
6
might mean benzene, or another isomer.
Generally, empirical formulas (C
2
H
6
and H
2
SO
4
) are not recognized, but structural formulas (CH
3
CH
3
and
HOSO
2
OH) are.
Molecular weight and elemental analyses of empirical structures are possible, but the Expand Label command does
not work with them. Empirical structures are discarded when they are transferred to other applications that require
unambiguous structures.
Chemically-significant text must be entirely in formula or, for isotopes and charges, superscript style. ChemBioDraw
13.0 does not recognize a chemical formula embedded within a larger block of text.
If you draw a bond, add an atom label, and then delete the bond, you
have a chemically meaningful text block whose font, size, and style
match other atom labels.
If you create a caption with the text tool and set it to Formula style,
you have a chemically meaningful text block whose font, size, and
style match other captions.
Charges
You can create charges as part of a atom label or with the appropriate symbol from the Chemical Symbols toolbar.
Charges are always assigned to a specific element in the atom label, whose acceptable valences become those of
the similar isoelectronic neutral element
.
A charge following an element is assigned to that element.
A charge that does not follow an element is assigned to the next element.
Charges that follow a monovalent element with a repeat count are
assigned to the element before that element.
ChemBioDraw 13.0
Chapter 15: Chemical interpretation 292 of 401