MDL Chime is a free plugin used by web browsers to display the three dimensional

3D computer graphics

3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...

 structures of molecules. It is part of the ISIS product line acquired by Symyx Technologies

Symyx Technologies

Symyx Technologies is a pioneer in the area of combinatorial chemistry applied to heterogeneous catalysis and homogeneous catalysis, polymer formulations, electronic and magnetic materials....

 from scientific publisher Elsevier

Elsevier

Elsevier is a publishing company which publishes medical and scientific literature. It is a part of the Reed Elsevier group. Based in Amsterdam, the company has operations in the United Kingdom, USA and elsewhere....

 in October 2007. It is based on the RasMol

RasMol

RasMol is a computer program written for molecular graphics visualization intended and used primarily for the depiction and exploration of biological macromolecule structures, such as those found in the Protein Data Bank...

 code.

Chime is used by a wide range of biochemistry

Biochemistry

Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...

 web sites for the visualization of macromolecules. Many of these sites are linked to the World Index of Molecular Visualization Resources MolVisIndex.Org. Chime was also used until 2006 at the Protein Data Bank

Protein Data Bank

The Protein Data Bank is a repository for the 3-D structural data of large biological molecules, such as proteins and nucleic acids....

 to examine structures stored there.

Although available in 1998 in both Windows 98

Windows 98

Windows 98 is a graphical operating system by Microsoft. It is the second major release in the Windows 9x line of operating systems. It was released to manufacturing on 15 May 1998 and to retail on 25 June 1998. Windows 98 is the successor to Windows 95. Like its predecessor, it is a hybrid...

 and Mac OS 9

Mac OS 9

Mac OS 9 is the final major release of Apple's Mac OS before the launch of Mac OS X. Introduced on October 23, 1999, Apple positioned it as "The Best Internet Operating System Ever," highlighting Sherlock 2's Internet search capabilities, integration with Apple's free online services known as...

 versions for both Netscape

Netscape

Netscape Communications is a US computer services company, best known for Netscape Navigator, its web browser. When it was an independent company, its headquarters were in Mountain View, California...

 and Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer

Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...

 browsers, development of Chime did not follow the move to Mac OS X

Mac OS X

Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...

 for the Mac and support for Windows-based browsers other than Internet Explorer was dropped (although it works well in Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite and managed by Mozilla Corporation. , Firefox is the second most widely used browser, with approximately 25% of worldwide usage share of web browsers...

). No significant features have been added since 1998 except for updates in the installation package to follow the development of Windows and Internet Explorer.

Chime may be superseded by Jmol

Jmol

Jmol is an open-source Java viewer for chemical structures in 3D,that does not require 3D acceleration plugins.Jmol returns a 3D representation of a molecule that may be used as a teaching tool, or for research e.g...

, but the current market share and trends are unclear. Jmol is a non-proprietary Java molecular visualization application/applet that has maintained most Chime command compatibility while adding features.

Two features of Chime which are not yet reproduced with Jmol:

• 'Sculpt' mode: The ability to change the conformation of molecules in a realistic way by dragging their atoms to new positions. This is a useful feature for exploring the conformational possibilities of a molecule such as the inability to rotate a carbon-carbon double bond.

• Calculating and drawing molecular surfaces coloured according to electrostatic or hydrophobic potential. Chime can calculate these surfaces for any molecule.

External links

• Accelrys Chime
• RCSB Protein Data Bank
• MolviZ.Org: Molecular Visualization Resources with rich collection of molecules
• Dublin City University CHIME and Jmol Pages