Chemists
require an ability to visualise molecules, and reactions involving them,
in 3-dimensional space. Installation of the
CHIME software plug-in within a web browser permits 3D interactive visualisation of on-screen
molecular models. More recently analogous visualisation using the
Jmol Java applet, which does not require the use
of an additional plug-in, has been developed.
This Dublin
City University website was
initially developed (1997/99) to exploit the potential of the CHIME
plug-in for teaching 3-dimensional aspects of organic chemistry using
Netscape. It is
being redeveloped (2006) to take advantage of the added convenience
which the Jmol Java applet (pre-installed on the website) provides in not
requiring anything additional from the website visitor. All updated material
will be made accessible from this page as it becomes available and will be
compatible with Netscape and Firefox browsers.
For
Jmol visualisation
your browser should be Java-enabled (to support Java applets, JavaScript
and Live Connect communication). Nothing additional is required.
For
CHIME visualisation a software
plug-in needs to be
downloaded from the MDL
website. Originally developed for use with earlier versions of Netscape and
Internet Explorer browsers the plugin file (npchime.dll) also functions with other
browsers, such as Firefox, when placed in their "plugins" folder
(detailed instructions are available
here). Its development involved extensive collaboration between
MDL,
Glaxo Wellcome, and
Roger Sayle and has grown out of
RasMol,
a particularly useful molecular viewer which Roger Sayle had earlier developed.
The chemistry community owes them a major debt of gratitude for having
so generously made the technology so widely accessible.
Short
CHIME and Jmol
tutorials providing practice in manipulation of molecular models are available
on this site.
A variety of
conventions to represent 3-dimensional molecules on a 2-dimensional surface
(paper/board/screen) are in use. A
Perspective Drawing
tutorial which reviews some of these is
available, supported by
CHIME-enabled 3D-models.
