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TEACHING RESOURCES INFORMATION

TITLE OF TEACHING RESOURCE
Chemsketch 12 Software
IMAGE
NAME OF PRODUCER
ACD/Labs
DATE OF PRODUCTION
2010
WEBSITE OF THE PRODUCT
TYPE OF PRODUCT
Downloadable software
LEVEL OF CHEMISTRY KNOWLEDGE
Medium, Advanced
PEDAGOGICAL APPROACH
Cooperative learning, Problem solving, Modelling
SUBJECT AREA
Fundamental Chemistry
TARGET GROUP LEVEL
Upper Secondary School
LANGUAGE/S OF TEACHING RESOURCES
English
TUTORIAL SUPPORT
No
DESCRIPTION
Contents
Chemsketch 12 is a chemical structure drawing program developed by ACD/Labs. Among other features, ChemSketch has the ability to:
- draw molecules in 2D
- render a 3D view of the drawn structure
- generate IUPAC systematic names for molecules of up to 50 atoms and 3 ring structures
- predict NMR spectra of the drawn molecules
It is probably the most simple and fast software to create three-dimensional models and to draw 2D molecules.

Prerequisites
The software can be used by expert chemists as well by students. If used by students, a deep knowledge of chemistry is not necessary: even simple organic and inorganic molecules can be drawn or visualized by selection from templates

Task description
Among the numerous functions of the software, the most suitable for upper secondary school students are described below.
In the 2D mode is it possible to:
- draw various atoms, chemical structures, reactions, schematic diagrams (step by step and also by the use of templates)
- flip a drawn molecular structure
- select, rotate, and resize drawn structures
- output the structure to a file, document, or printer and save the structure as document.
Then it is possible to ask the computer to generate the three-dimensional model of the molecule, that can be seen with the ‘3D viewer’ function. The 3D molecule can be modified by changing angles and lengths of bonds, as well as torsion angles and R/S configurations. Eventually, the structure can be saved in mol format, thus viewed also with other programs as Chime or ArgusLab.
Moreover the section dedicated to lab equipment is an easy tool to became familiar with glassware and other tools available in laboratory.

The aims
The program is a tool, easy to be used, to learn to draw and name molecular structures, organic and inorganic, selecting the level of difficulty and choosing between 2D and 3D representation.

How to use it in class
The software can be used individually by the students to practice, or in class to better explain and discuss the molecule structure, with the possibility of modulating the difficulty level. A valid and well described example of how to use the software in class is reported in the document downloadable from the link:http://www.pianetachimica.it/didattica/documenti/Nomenclatura_IUPAC.pdf. The document has been produced by a secondary school teacher specialized in teaching organic chemistry, but it can be used also by less expert teachers
COMMENTS
Points of strength
- The software is easy to be used
- It is rich of options and suitable to correctly draw even complex molecules, in 2D as in 3D.

Points of weakness
- The software is available only in English (this should not be a weakness point if Italian students knew English)

Scientific reliability
High

Pedagogic value
The confidence with this software can be a valid tool in the teaching-learning of molecule structures and their nomenclature, in particular when organic molecules are considered. In this case, a good use of the software is an indispensable complement to books.
NAME OF THE REVIEWING ORGANISATION
University of Genova

Comments about this Publication

Your comments are welcome


Date: 2014.07.31

Posted by Paula Matos (Portugal)

Message: The software installation is quite simple. A prior registration on the website is needed and, after that, it’s possible to download the software. Guidelines to make its installation, however, are not straightforward, but anyone used to downloading software or internet applications can do it intuitively.
This software is very useful and can be used either at the secondary level or at the university. It is very helpful to reinforce the concept of the number of chemical bonds that atoms can form, because the application corrects the user attempts to exceed this number. On the other hand, it also adjusts the chemical bonds as the user adds functional groups or atoms.
The free version offers plenty of options, allowing users to take advantage of this great tool.
It can be used by both students and teachers. Teachers can apply it in various ways: in the classroom on a whiteboard or in the preparation of worksheets or power point presentations. Students can use it in laboratory reports or in their general study.

Date: 2014.03.19

Posted by Christodoulos Makedonas (Greece)

Message: ACD ChemSketch is a drawing package software produced and distributed by ACDLabs. There are two versions available a commercial and a free one. The freeware version allows the drawing of chemical structures including organics, organometallics, polymers, and Markush structures. It also includes features such as calculation of molecular properties (e.g., molecular weight, density, molar refractivity etc.), 2D and 3D structure cleaning and viewing, functionality for naming structures (fewer than 50 atoms and 3 rings), and prediction of logP.
The software is very user friendly and can be employed in any level of teaching for the drawing of any kind of organic molecules, from the simple alkanes to the more elaborate biomolecules, e.g. carbohydrates. As a helping tool for this purpose, it contains templates of several types of molecules. Moreover, it can be easily used for the production of chemical equations of any difficulty up to catalytic cycles, for the drawing of orbital interaction schemes and for the preparation of laboratory manual, since there are also templates for lab equipment and instruments.
It is a valuable companion in teaching IUPAC nomenclature and stereochemistry and can be easily employed for the production of teaching material, since the drawings, to the best of my knowledge, are easily pasted to any kind of document, such as word processor or presentation.

Date: 2012.09.28

Posted by HRISTO KOLEV (bulgaria)

Message: THE CHEMSKECH SOFTWARE IS A PROGRAM GENERALLY USED FOR DRAWING STRUCTURES AND OTHER IMAGES TO BE USED IN POWER POINT PRESENTATIONS OR TEXT MATERIALS SUCH AS TESTS AND EXAMS. IT IS A VERY EASY TO USE AN USER FRIENDLY SOFTWARE THAT CAN BE USED BOTH BY STUDENTS AND TEACHERS. THE PROGRAM ALLOWS A VERY QUICK AND EASY WAY TO GENERATE A STRUCTURE AND BECAUSE IT IS COMPATIBLE WITH THE WIDELY USED MICROSOFT OFFICE THE GENERATED MATERIAL CAN EASILY BE PASTED INTO ANOTHER DOCUMENT WITHOUT THE NEED TO EXPORT IT IN ANOTHER FORMAT OR IMAGE. IT ALLOWS ALL THE BASIC FUNCTIONS OF PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS USED TODAY BUT IT IS NOT SO EXPERIENCE-DEMANDING. ALLOWING A FREE DOWNLOAD OF A DEMO VERSION MAKES IT ACCESSIBLE FOR MANY SCHOOLS AND OTHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS. USING THAT FREE DOWNLOAD VERSION ALLOWS A PERSON TO DO A WIDE ARRANGE OF STRUCTURE GENERATING AND MANIPULATION AS WELL AS BASIC PROPERTY CALCULATIONS AND IUPAC NAME GENERATING. IT CONTAINS A HUGE ARRANGE OF USEFUL PREDRAWN STRUCTURES AND IMAGES THAT ARE THERE TO BE PASTED JUST ABOUT ANYWHERE. SOME OF THEM ARE MOLECULAR ORBITALS, NEWMAN PROJECTIONS, COMPLEXED MOLECULES LIKE MONO- AND DISACCHARIDES AND NUCLEOTIDES. THERE IS A PRESET OF FUNCTIONAL GROUPS AS WELL THAT ALLOWS ORGANIC MOLECULES TO BE DRAWN EASILY. THERE IS A WIDE ARRANGE OF ADDITIONAL SYMBOLS THAT CAN BE USED TO CONSTRUCT EQUATIONS AND REACTION SCHEMES VERY QUICKLY. A LAB KIT IS AVAILABLE IF CONSTRUCTING A SKETCH OF AN APPARATUS IS NEEDED. THE 3D VIEWER ALSO AVAILABLE IN THE FREE DEMO VERSION IS EXTREMELY USEFUL IN TEACHING A WIDE ARRANGE OF TOPICS RANGING FROM WAN DER WAALS FORCES TO BOND ANGLES AND BOND ENERGY AS IT ALLOWS ONE TO MEASURE DISTANCES AND ANGLES FOR HIMSELF. A GOOD VISUAL AID OF THE MOLECULES FROM ALL ANGLES IS CRUCIAL FOR TEACHING ORGANIC CHEMISTRY AND ESPECIALLY FOR SN1 AND SN2 MECHANISM AS WELL AS A RANGE OF OTHER ADVANCED SITESPECIFIC REACTION MECHANISMS.
IN CONCLUSION THE SOFTWARE IS EXTREMELY USEFUL AND EASY TO USE TOOL FOR CONSTRUCTING JUST ABOUT ANYTHING ONE MAY NEED AS A VISUAL AID IN TEACHING CHEMISTRY.

National Reports on successful experiences to promote lifelong learning for chemistry The national reports on chemistry successful experiences to promote lifelong learning for chemistry are now available on the related section of the project portal. The reports presents examples of successful experiences in the partner countries and the results of testing of ICT resources with science teachers.

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