ChemDraw™ is a molecule editor and communication suite, for the management, reporting, and presentation of chemistry research and discoveries.
ChemDraw | |
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Developer(s) | Revvity Signals |
Operating system | macOS, Microsoft Windows |
Type | Scientific |
License | Proprietary |
Website | ChemDraw on Revvity Signals website |
ChemDraw was originally conceived in 1985 by Selena "Sally" Evans, her husband David A. Evans, and Stewart Rubenstein.[1][2] In July 1985, ChemDraw was demonstrated at the Gordon Research Conference on Reactions & Processes in New Hampshire, USA, an event remembered by many chemists, such was the breakthrough provided by the software.[1][2][3]
Later that same year, Stewart’s younger brother, Michael, began developing Chem3D, a companion program to ChemDraw that allows users to draw three-dimensional chemical structures.[2] ChemDraw’s popularity led to the launch of cheminformatics company Cambridge Scientific Computing, later renamed CambridgeSoft, to further develop the program.[3] CambridgeSoft was sold to PerkinElmer in 2011.[4] In 2022, PerkinElmer split their businesses, and the Life Science and Diagnostics divisions became Revvity, Inc.[5] Today, ChemDraw is developed by Revvity Signals Software, the informatics division of Revvity.
ChemDraw is augmented by a number of desktop applications such as Chem3D (3D modelling) ChemFinder (dataset analysis), and ChemDraw for Excel.[6] In 2024, ChemDraw+, a web-based application, was launched as part of the new product Signals ChemDraw, with full integration with other Revvity Signals solutions.[7]
ChemDraw is available in three different offerings: ChemDraw Prime, which contains the core functionalities, ChemDraw Professional, and Signals™ ChemDraw:[8]
ChemDraw Prime
ChemDraw Professional
Signals ChemDraw
The native file formats for ChemDraw are the binary CDX and the preferred XML-based CDXML formats. ChemDraw can also import from, and export to, MOL, SDF, and SKC chemical file formats. Images can be exported to GIF, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and SVG. 3D printing of molecules can also be performed with the 3MF format.[9]