One of the major problems many students of carbohydrate chemistry have is visualizing what some of the molecules they are studying actually look like. This is especially true when lots of stereochemical features are involved, as is the case with carbohydrates. In order to provide you with a virtual model of some of these compounds, the following free programs are highly recommended. Click on the links provided to access download information.

RasMol (you can download the Windows 95 version of RasMol 2.6 directly from this link).

RasTop-From the RasTop web site..."RasTop is a molecular visualization software adapted from the program RasMol initially developed by Roger Sayle. RasTop wraps a user-friendly graphical interface around the "RasMol molecular engine". The software allows several molecules to be opened in the same window and several windows to be opened at the same time."

The following chemical structure file download sites are highly recommended:

Protein Data Bank, PDB Lite (click on Macromolecules)

Klotho Biochemical Database

Web Author: James R. Daniel, Ph. D.
Last Updated: