Now click anywhere on the drawing surface and a carbon atom will be seen. Select the element carbon and close the periodic table window. To draw a carbon atom, double click on the Draw Tool. Start by drawing the molecule methane (CH4). The main tools you will be using are shown below: To change the background colour select File, Preferences, Window Color, White, OK. It is easier to work on a white background. I do not, however, feel bad enough to let you not do this lab.Īcyclic Aliphatic Hydrocarbons Start the HyperChem program by selecting Start, Programs, Class Software, HyperChem Std 5.1. What follows in an instructional ‘how to’ and there are very few ways to make ‘how to’ instructions more exciting than watching paint dry. One of the purposes of this lab is to familiarize you with the basics of Hyperchem® by building some models and performing some basic calculations. The program you will be using for this lab is called Hyperchem®. In addition to viewing structures three dimensionally, modeling programs allow us to measure bond lengths, bond angles, and calculate energies. Fortunately, chemists also have modeling programs at their disposal. For this reason, it is strongly recommended that a modeling kit be used when studying organic chemistry. Although this is useful, we must never forget that molecules are 3-dimensional structures. As organic chemists, we often draw structures and reactions on paper. This example drives home an important aspect of organic chemistry: the importance of the 3dimensional structure of organic molecules. The two molecules are in fact the same and the bond angles between the two chlorine atoms are identical at 109.5°. Are they the same or different? What do you think the bond angle is between the two chlorine atoms in molecule A? What about molecule B? H Clī A At first glance, the answer may not be obvious. Why, you might ask, is molecular modeling important? Let me answer that question (as I usually do) with another question. Introduction to Molecular Modeling As the title implies, the following ‘dry’ lab is meant to be an introduction to the exciting (OK, maybe not exciting but definitely important) world of molecular modeling.