Chemistry: Subject Guide: ChemBioDraw

GSU has a site license to ChemBioDraw.

The GSU Chemistry department has ChemBioDraw installed on their computers.

ChemSketch is a free software similar to ChemDraw and contains other functions such as making chemical movies (above). ChemSketch is installed on the first and second row computers in Library Classroom 1.  Other free drawing software includes Symyx Draw and MarvinSketch.

You can install ChemBioDraw on your home computer, thanks to GSU's site license. To download and install, follow the steps below.

1. Open Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Safari (The Chrome browser is not equally supported).
2. Go to the ChemBioDraw Site License page.
3. Enter your GSU email address and select Submit.
4. There are two sets of links: one for Windows, and one for Macintosh. Select "Click Here to Download Software 1" in the appropriate category. You can also download the PDF manuals here.
5. The site will confirm that you can access our site license. Select Continue.
6. You will have to create a free account to download the software. Select Register on the right-hand column.
7. Fill out all required information, and be sure to uncheck the email boxes if you don't wish to receive emails from PerkinElmer. Select Register.
8. Return to the download page (or the login page if you are not automatically logged in). Select "Click Here to Download Software 1" to start the download. You will be emailed a serial number; make sure this is ready when you install the program.
9. When the download is complete, open the .exe file. Unzip the file and select Install Software.  The program will ask for your name, email, and the serial number that was emailed to you. Select Activate Over Internet.
10. Continue selecting Next until the installation is complete. Only advanced users will need to change any of these options.

Instead of using SciFinder Scholar's structure editor, you can import structures from ChemBioDraw. Just save your drawing as an MDL Molfile (.mol) (not MDL Molfile V3000). Open SciFinder Scholar's structure editor, select the Open icon, and look for files of type ChemDraw (*.mol).

Note: Not all aspects of the drawing may import properly. Use SciFinder Scholar's structure editor to fix anything improperly transferred.