Josephy Lab Software Handbook
ChemWindows
www.softshell.com
This software, written by chemists for chemists, allows you to draw chemical structures. (All the structures in my textbook were drawn this way and are available on disc). It's easy to learn and use. Chemical formulae are formatted automatically: numbers are subscripted and charges are superscripted. Even sophisticated structures can be drawn with a few key strokes: polycyclics, long alkyl chains, "three-dimensional" cubanes, etc. The program also does automatic "valence-checks" which detect, e.g., pentavalent carbon atoms, just as a word processor detects spelling errors. The program also calculates molecular weights automatically. (Recent versions can even predict nmr spectra, but I am still using an older and less-sophisticated version.)
February 1, 2000
