Library: Chemistry Software: Chem3D

What is Chem3D?

Chem3D allows you to:

produce colourful 3D chemical structures for use in presentations, posters and websites
draw a 2D chemical structure using ChemDraw and convert it to 3D
import CIF or PDB files to visualise and manipulate
calculate bond lengths and angles
perform molecular modelling calculations with MM2 and MMFF94
perform molecular dynamics calculations

Chem3D at the University of Bath

The University of Bath has a site licence for ChemOffice+ Cloud, provided by DD&T. This includes Chem3D, for Windows only. The licence allows you to download the software to your own PC (not available for Mac). The version currently installed on University computers is ChemDraw 19. Limited training and support is provided by the Library.

How to use Chem3D

How to use Chem3D
Moodle course for University of Bath staff and students.

Access Chem3D

To access ChemDraw from public access computers in the Library or PC labs:

Go to Start – ChemOffice 2020 – Chem3D 20.1

On University-managed computers, you can download Chem3D from the software centre, as part of ChemOffice Professional. It is available for Windows only.

ChemDraw and Chem3D can be accessed remotely via Uniapps or UniDesk:

https://www.bath.ac.uk/guides/work-remotely-with-uniapps-and-unidesk/

Download Chem3D to your own computer

Chem3D is available for Windows only. You can download it together with ChemDraw, by following the instructions to download ChemOffice provided on the secure downloads page. Before you install a new version of ChemOffice, make sure that you have uninstalled any older version.

Secure Downloads
Instructions can be found under Software Application - ChemOffice. Then select 'ChemDraw QUICK START Activation Guide.pdf'

An alternative for Mac users

MarvinSketch
As you cannot download Chem3D to a Mac, this free software from ChemAxon may be a useful alternative.

How to go from 2D to 3D structures in MarvinSketch

Problems with downloading ChemDraw/Chem3D?

Note: the Perkin Elmer website causes various web browsers to come up with a security warning. You just have to ignore this. For example in Chrome, click on ‘advanced’ and then continue.

If you have a problem downloading ChemDraw (including Chem3D) you can try searching the PerkinElmer knowledge base:

Revvity Signals Knowledgebase and support

Or seek help from DD&T:

Request IT support