[Endo]

Hello,

I'm trying to find a program that is useful for drawing out organic reactions. Which ones would you recommend/stay away from? Are there any for download somewhere for free or inexpensive?

Thanks very much

[bromidewind]

<a href="http://www.acdlabs.com/download/chemsketch/">ChemSketch</a> (from ACDLabs) is the best freeware program that I know of. I use it all the time to draw out reactions for formal lab reports. The basic version covers just about everything you need: NMR predictions, 3D viz, structure drawing, compound naming, etc. It has a lot of power in it. It's only for Windows, but with some manipulating you can get it to run on Mac or Linux.

If you need something more powerful (and aren't opposed to shelling out a lot of money), CambridgeSoft's <a href="http://www.cambridgesoft.com/software/ChemDraw/">ChemDraw</a> is extremely powerful. It can do pretty much anything you want, although it does have a steep learning curve. You can get a two week trial if you just need to draw up a quick reaction.

Hope these help, enjoy using them!

[Endo]

Perfect, ChemSketch is more than enough.

Thanks very much! I really appreciate it   

[gregbahun]

in case anybody else is interested in trying other programs, you can check out:

http://www.chemaxon.com/product/msketch.html

works on windows, mac, and linux. and is legitimately free. they have some other good programs too (inventory that you can search by substructure)

http://bkchem.zirael.org/download_en.html

this one is also available on all platforms, although i was having a problem with ubuntu netbook "remix" distribution. also free.

Symyx Draw is another program. again, totally free.


most of these you have to register at the site to download, but, no biggie.