Just starting, please help

Hey i'm just now starting this and i cannot figure out how to get just C or Just O by itself... is it just me or does this Software completely fail to be practical?





i've been wasting hours trying to put together this:


H H OH


H-C-C-C-H


H H H





and its a shame i can Draw it on paper in 10 seconds and it takes hours to figure out how to use this thing... please help cause this is frustrating me to tears.





-Brine

Brine,





which software are you talking about?


You sent your post to the MarvinSpace forum, though from your enquiry I reckon you try to use MarvinSketch to draw a chemical srtucture.


Hm?





You cannot use MarvinSpace to draw a structure, it's a 3D structure visualizer.





Thanks,


Miklos

i'm using Marvin Sketch which is embedded into the "owl" website as a java application... i figured out how to link the Elements together but why when i Select " O " do i get H2O by Default ? i understand that the structure is set up to be "realistic" but its more confusing to me than convenient





i'm still having trouble getting just " O " and " C " and " OH "





thanks for the Help...





-Brine

O.k. I see. In this case, I move your message to the MSketch forum, guys there may be more helpful for you than me.


In the meantime, you may wish to follow this link http://www.chemaxon.com/marvin/help/sketch/sketch-basic.html#howto-draw to learn more about how to draw structures in MSketch.





Regarding your specific questions:





- I guess your confusion is caused by the 'bond in hand' that wiggles as you move your mouse. If yes, then click Edit->Preferences, select the MarvinSketch tab, in the Show Object panel un-check the Bond in Hand check box.





- If you click in the draw canvas, you'll get an ethane. You still have the bond in you hand, but it's not visible :-)





- You can edit, expand this structure further... see the link about how-to.





- To draw a water molecule: press the 'o' button on your keyboard, then click anywhere in msketch, H2O will be displayed.


(Similarly, you can select the O atom on the right hand side elements Panel...)





- You cannot draw just a C, as Msketch is 'chemically aware', but you can press C then left-click, and you get CH4.





Does this help?





Regards,


Miklos

By default, H atoms are automatically displayed for heteroatoms and terminal C atoms. So when you click on the canvas with C or O, the H atoms are displayed, too.





However, as you add bonds to the C or O, the number of H atoms is automatically corrected.





If the automatic H atoms really bother you, go to the View menu and choose Hydrogens -> Off.

Hi Brine,





Actually, if the chemical correctness doesn't matter, you have several choices in MarvinSketch to draw your original target structures.


E.g.:


- To draw "H": Type H, left-click on the canvas where you want to place it, then click on the negative charge, then click on the H atom.





- To draw "H-C-C-C-H":


1. Select View > Misc > Implicit Hydrogens > Off


2. Click on the bond tool (the "-" icon on the top left), then start drag&drawing from left to right, horizontally, until you draw a pentane that has all five bonds in a strait line. The intermediate carbons are displayed alreay.


3. Move the cursor to the left end of the chain, and type H, then repeate it on the right end.





- To draw "OH":


1. Type O, then click on the canvas where you want to place it. (You can also set a negative charge on this O atom if you want to be closer to the reality).


2. Click on the select tool, then select the O atom you placed in the previous step.


3. Right click pointing to the O atom, then select the 'Group' option


4. Set the 'Type' to Superatom (abbrevition) and type "OH" in the 'Name' field, then click 'OK'.


5. Right-click on the O atom and select the 'Contract Group' option.





Best regards,





Akos