[Schrödinger]

Quick ChemDraw question, to all you ChemDraw experts out there. I desperately need your help

How do you draw a ring, and then draw a 'circle' of delocalised electrons in it? Let's say I draw this ring see figure attached) out by hand. Now I want the π-electrons to form a ring, as shown on the 5-membered ring on the left side. How do I do this using ChemDraw?

I know how to insert a ring (like cyclopentadiene) with a delocalisation curve inside. What I'm looking for is : How do I draw a ring like the one shown and then make that delocalisation curve appear on the inside?

[Dan]

I do it like so:

[Schrödinger]

Yes. The draw the circle and attach method did strike me. But i wanted to know if there is way to aromatise a ring. (Not by insertion of a ring )

[curiouscat]

Under Templates -> Cp Rings I found one exactly like the one you wanted.

[Dan]

Under Templates -> Cp Rings I found one exactly like the one you wanted.

Which version do you have? My Cp ring templates all have solid inner circles, not dashed ones - I only have Std 12.0 though.

[curiouscat]

Under Templates -> Cp Rings I found one exactly like the one you wanted.

Which version do you have? My Cp ring templates all have solid inner circles, not dashed ones - I only have Std 12.0 though.

My version's older. I was wrong. I didn't notice the dashed versus solid distinction. Is that semantically relevant?

In any case, I played around and if you right click after using the Cp template ChemDraw gave me an option to chose Dashed. That seems to work.

[Dan]

In any case, I played around and if you right click after using the Cp template ChemDraw gave me an option to chose Dashed. That seems to work.

Yep, works for me too - thanks, I was not aware of that feature

[Schrödinger]

That was a huge *delete me* Thank you But I still wonder why ChemDraw doesn't let you put a dashed circle inside a ring automatically. I mean it's annoying to go all the way to the templates section and choose the Cp ring and then change it to dashed. Now I also need to edit the Cp ring and add a free electron. That's tedious work :\

[curiouscat]

That was a huge *delete me* Thank you But I still wonder why ChemDraw doesn't let you put a dashed circle inside a ring automatically. I mean it's annoying to go all the way to the templates section and choose the Cp ring and then change it to dashed. Now I also need to edit the Cp ring and add a free electron. That's tedious work :\

Why dashed? Why not solid?

[Schrödinger]

It's a delocalised radical species, structure shown above. It's not aromatic, as is the case with pyrrole or furan. The Li donates just one e^- to the ring, not two. Besides, the picture I've inserted is from from a paper, so I just went ahead and used the same thing.

[curiouscat]

It's a delocalised radical species, structure shown above. It's not aromatic, as is the case with pyrrole or furan. The Li donates just one e^- to the ring, not two.

Ok. I wasn't sure. I didn't realize that convention.

[Schrödinger]

Thanks a lot... The problem seems manageable now that I've got used to drawing out the circles and arcs

[Schrödinger]

^
ChemDraw Magic - Draw Viagra under 20 sec :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03WNbvZLDkk

Maybe this would be of help?