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ChemSketch

Chemical Structure Drawing Software

ChemSketch Overview

Draw Molecular Structures and Communicate Scientific Ideas

ACD/ChemSketch is a molecular structure drawing application with all the reporting features you need. ChemSketch is used by millions of scientists worldwide.

ChemSketch also calculates a variety of molecular descriptors and will generate IUPAC names for small molecules.

  • Draw chemical structures
  • Calculate molecular descriptors
  • Generate IUPAC names
  • Create professional reports
Benefits

Advanced Structure Drawing Software

Easy to Use

Comprehensive Structure Editor

High Quality Output

Affordable

Draw molecular structures, chemical reactions, schema, and biomolecules (peptide sequences) with ease

Communicate scientific information with clarity and create professional presentations and reports

Draw organic molecules, organometallics, biomolecules, polymers, Lewis structures, 2D and 3D structure representations, delocalized Markush structures, and more

Calculate quantities for chemical reactions (with automatically calculated chemical formula, molecular weight etc.)

Draw complex schema, such as biotransformation maps, with ease

How it Works

Draw Structures Quickly and Easily

  • 1 Draw a molecule with C-C bonds by clicking and dragging in the Structure window.
  • 2 Edit bonds or atoms with convenient tools, then clean your structure or rotate to see different views.
  • 3 Calculate properties, generate the IUPAC name, or further draw additional structures to create a chemical reaction for your report or publication.

Learn how to draw carbon chains, add heteroatoms, rearrange structures, generate IUPAC names, in this introductory video.

Customer Reviews

ChemSketch has been downloaded by >2.5 million users worldwide.

“I find the ACD/ChemSketch software to be very intuitive. Furthermore, it appears to seamlessly integrate with other Microsoft Office programs, such as Word.”

Thomas J. Siepmann

“This software has all the features that a chemist can dream of to write papers and reports.”

Tilak Bommaraju,
New York, USA

“This software is incredible for quickly drawing and naming structures, I use it to help students to understand the IUPAC naming structures needed for A Level Chemistry and for designing the worksheets that test them on their knowledge.”

Robert Webster,
UTC Sheffield, UK

Product Features

Features of ChemSketch

  • Draw molecular structures such as organic molecules, organometallics, biomolecules, polymers, 2D and 3D structure representations, delocalized Markush structures, peptide sequences
  • Edit structures to customize the chemical bond type, stereo configuration, atom type and charge, radical label, atom numbering, and more
  • Easily draw reactions and complex chemical schema (including biotransformation maps)
    • Label reaction arrows with specific experimental conditions
    • Associate atoms in reactant to product schemes with atom-atom mapping
  • Insert pre-drawn templates of amino acids, aromatics, carbohydrates, steroids, sugars, and more
  • Use graphical templates to insert objects including molecular orbitals, Lewis structures, Newman projections, laboratory equipment, and more
  • Generate structures from InChI or SMILES strings, or copy/paste from ChemDraw
  • Search the Dictionary of >170,000 systematic, trivial, and trade names
  • Generate suggested tautomeric forms of your drawn structure
  • Generate all possible structures for a given Markush representation
  • Produce an optimized 3D model of your 2D structure
  • Import and export structure files in a variety of standard file formats.
    Review the list of supported formats
  • Create comprehensive reports
  • Embed structures, schema, and other chemical information directly into Microsoft Word and PowerPoint documents, or any OLE-supported application
  • Produce publication-ready figures for popular journals, e.g., ACS, RSC, Helvetica, and more
  • Name molecular structures according to IUPAC rules *

* Generation of IUPAC names in ACD/ChemSketch is limited to structures with up to 50 atoms (restricted to H, C, N, P, O, S, F, Cl, Br, I, Li, Na, and K), 3 cycles, and 100 characters. For expanded chemical structure naming capabilities see ACD/Name.

  • Predict a variety of molecular properties from structure including:
    • Molecular weight
    • Formula
    • Formula weight
    • Density
    • LogP
    • Percentage composition
    • Molar refractivity
    • Refractive index
    • Molar volume
    • Density
    • Parachor
    • Structural formula
    • Surface tension
  • Calculate quantities for chemical reactions and solutions
  • Search files by chemical structure in ACD/Labs, FASTA, HELM, ChemDraw, BIOVIA, Adobe, and Microsoft® Word, Excel, and PowerPoint file formats
  • Search for structures in EPA iCSS, PubChem, and eMolecules databases
Deployment/Integration Options

Looking for a Replacement for ChemDraw?

ChemSketch is a popular alternative to the ChemDraw molecular editor, offering all the time-saving shortcuts, graphical templates, and communication tools you are used to.

Making the change couldn’t be easier!

Simply copy/paste, edit, or open existing ChemDraw (*.cdx) files, and save them in ChemSketch.

Want to Provide ChemSketch throughout Your Organization?

Many organizations and educational institutions conveniently provide ChemSketch site-wide, deployed on multiple computers for hundreds of users. Get in touch to learn more about this option.

Pricing

A Complete Software Package for Drawing Chemical Structures

All prices in USD. Exchange rate fluctuations may occur. If you prefer to purchase in your local currency, please contact us for a quote.

Verify your status as an academic/student for discount pricing, or contact us to discuss your eligibility.

  • Software License (1 year maintenance included) – $819.00
  • Software License (2 years maintenance included) – $949.00
  • Software License (3 years maintenance included) – $1,089.00
  • Subscription License (Maintenance included, billed annually until cancelled) – $320.00
  • 7 Day Free Trial – $0.00

Try It or Buy It Request a Consultation or Demo


What's New!

What's New in ChemSketch v2024

  • Use keyboard shortcuts to modify bonds and atoms, and resize or rotate objects
  • Improved file management includes ability to save a temporary copy of your file, and preview files before opening
ChemSketch Freeware

Free Software for Drawing Chemical Structures

Are you looking for our free structure drawing software for academic or personal use? Please note: use of ChemSketch Freeware is explicitly prohibited in a commercial organization.

Download ChemSketch Freeware

Learn More about ChemSketch

Supported File Formats

Vendor or File Format Data Format Comments
Chemical Drawings
ACD/Labs *.sk2
ChemAxon Marvin Sketch *.mrv Input only
Dassault Systèmes BIOVIA Draw *.skc Formerly ISIS Sketch, MDL Draw, Symyx Draw, and Accelrys Draw
PerkinElmer ChemDraw *.cdx, *cdxml, *.chm
Adobe Acrobat *.pdf Output only
Chemical Structures and Reactions
Chemical Markup Language *.cml Output only
FASTA formats *.fasta and other Peptide sequences
InChI Text string
InChIKey Text string Output only
MOL files *.mol
Pistoia Alliance HELM *.helm, *.xhelm Peptide sequences, input only for xhelm files
Reaction Files *.rxn
SMILES Text string
Images
GIF image format *.gif
JPG image format *.jpg Input only
Paintbrush *.pcx Output only
PNG image format *.png
TIFF Bitmap *.tif Output only
Windows Bitmap *.bmp, *.dib
Windows Metafile *.wmf