Molecular Graphics: A New Tool in Computer-Assisted Chemistry

Molecular graphics (MG) is nowadays an essential component of the basic tools used in computer-assisted chemistry. As such, it is employed in numerous applications where its role consists not only in building and visualizing chemical models, but also in simulating complex situations resulting from the dynamic properties of chemical systems. This paper presents several basic techniques used in MG by reviewing some applications developed in our laboratories in the following areas: (i) modelization of molecular architectures; (ii) real time animated representation of dynamic processes; (iii) construction and visualization of molecular properties such as electron densities and intermolecular interaction potentials.