All New for 2022: Chem4Word does Chemical Reactions!

We’ve Been Busy!

2021 was a challenging year for many of us. We are still glad that we managed to produce a new release of Chem4Word. The most effort went into improving ACME, our new molecule sketcher.

ACME opens new horizons for Chem4Word. And I’d like to talk about some of those now.

Reactions

Chemistry is the study of change, as Walter White memorably points out.

Chem4Word up to now has been more concerned with static molecules. We think it presents these as well as any paid-for package.

But molecules are boring, yeah? You got enthused when you saw some chemistry happening! You have been demanding change. And we’re going to deliver it!

We’ve been working on basic reaction functionality. What’s that? Well, it’s drawing different kinds of chemical reactions and specifying reactants, products, reaction type with reagents and conditions. Here’s a sneak preview:

But Chemical Markup Language, which underpins Chem4Word, is capable of much, much more. CML describes reactions in great detail using CML-React. You can fully specify the reaction type, reagents and conditions. You can also set reactants and products for a reaction.

Semantic Reagents

We want to treat reagents and solvents as first-class chemical objects in their own right. So, we will add custom dictionaries of these, both from libraries and from online sources like Wikipedia.

Electron Pushing

We also plan to fully support reaction mechanisms with electron pushers (‘curly arrows’). Chem4Word will be the best free chemistry tool for teaching and understanding chemistry!

How You Can Help

We are now beta-testing this new version, so get involved if you can. Download the beta and tell us what you think. All your feedback is valuable!

Clyde Davies
Project Leader.