Computer graphics in chemical education and research

Abstract Chemical applications of computer graphics are rapidly expanding in various areas related to both education and research. Today, the use of molecular graphics allows not only to represent and manipulate complex models of molecular systems, but also to build new structures and to predict their properties such as reactivity or biological activity. With the combined use of the other techniques of computer-assisted chemistry, this may lead to the design of entirely new classes of compounds with specific properties, such as drugs in medicinal chemistry or catalysts in chemical engineering.