Chemistry

BKChem – chemical drawing program

BKChem is an open source 2D molecule editor written in Python. It has a wealth of features but is simple to use.

Features include:

  • Drawing:
    • Bond-by-bond drawing.
    • Bond lenght and angle restrictions to assist with the drawing.
    • Ready to use templates of common rings.
    • Ability to expand common groups from abbreviated to structural form.
    • Support for linear formulas (such as -CH2CH(COOCH3)2).
    • Radicals, charges…
    • Arrows (several types – normal, retro, equilibrium, etc).
    • Rich text.
    • Color support.
    • Simple vector graphics (rectangles, circles, polygons etc).
  • Editing:
    • Unlimited undo and redo capabilities.
    • Aligning.
    • Scaling.
    • Rotation (2D, 3D).
    • Aligning of molecules so that particular bond is horizontal/vertical.
    • Rotation of molecular fragments around bonds (conformation changes).
    • Definition of personal preferred drawing style (bond lengths, widths, colors…).
  • Export:
    • SVG (native data are transparently embedded into SVG file), OpenOffice Draw format, ODF (OpenOffice 2.0) format, Encapsulated PostScript, and PDF.
    • Basic support for both CML1 and CML2.
    • Molfiles.
    • Generation of SMILES.
  • Import:
    • Basic support for both CML1 and CML2.
    • Molfiles.
    • SMILES (subset).
    • INChI (subset).
  • Localization support (currently English, French, Czech, Polish, German and Traditional Chinese translations are available).
  • XML based.
  • Validity checking of drawn structures.
  • Support for user written plugins. A BKChem plugin in general consists of two main parts: a short XML file describing the plugin, and a Python script that represents the actual code.
  • Support for user written batch scripts.
  • Searching for BKChem files containing specified molecules or molecule fragment.

Website: bkchem.zirael.org
Support:
Developer: Beda Kosata
License: GNU General Public License v2.0

BKChem

BKChem is written in Python. Learn Python with our recommended free books and free tutorials.

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