How do I create my own mol files?

 You can create your own custom molecule using molecular modeling programs.  If you have experience with one of these, you can use it to save or export the molecule in a file format compatible with Chime. ChemSketch by ACD Labs is a free modeling program that can create simple molecules. 

Click on the the ChemSketch icon on the desktop to launch the program.  Click on the building tool and start making a molecule.  When you have finished, click the 3-D rotation button and select the molecule.  Press the 3-D optimization button and the program will adjust the atomic positions in an attempt to find the most stable conformation of the molecule.  Notice that you can now rotate the molecule to see the three dimensional structure as with Chime.  Next select the File-Export menu option.  Set the dialog box to export the molecule to the A: drive in the mol file format.  Type in a file name and press OK. 

To see your molecule with Chime, go back to your web browser and open the mol file with the File-Open Page menu option. 

You should now have two molecules on your N: drive to work with.  A pdb file downloaded from the internet and an mol file made with ChemSketch.  Next we will write a Chime web page displaying these molecules.
 


Ammonia has a trigonal pyramidal geometry due to
the lone pair of electrons.

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