General Chemistry 1111
Experiment 12
Amorde
Fall 2010
How to Use ChemSketch
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
Open the ChemSketch Program by double clicking the desktop icon
The following tabs will be highlighted; C, structure, and the pencil
These are your drawing functions, click on the page to draw a carbon
Methane, CH4, will appear, this is drawing carbon and filling in the other bonds needed with
hydrogen, the program will automatically follow the rules for bonding and fill in the most
common atoms
Click the carbon atom to draw another bond to carbon, you now have ethane, C2H6
You can keep clicking on the carbons to keep adding bonds, for example C3H8.
You can also click bonds to draw multiple bonds, i.e. click the C-C bond of ethane. Now you
have made ethylene, C2H4.
ChemSketch will change to number of hydrogens to fit the rules of bonding
You can add other atoms, for example oxygen, by clicking the tab for oxygen on the left hand
side of the screen and then click on one of the carbons in ethylene. Now you have made
formaldehyde, CH2O.
Now let’s add shape, Click the tab with the square and arrow in the upper left hand corner of
the tool bar.
Circle your formaldehyde structure
Click the tetrahedral shaped tool on the upper tool bar for 3D optimization
Click the tab just above the 3D optimization tool for 3D viewer
You can now rotate your molecule in 3D, either select the auto rotate tool, or click and drag to
rotate your molecule and observe shape
To get back to the drawing window, click on the bottom left corner tab for 1-ChemSketch
You can use the eraser to make corrections or you can delete your drawing to start over and
draw the other molecules