What is MDL Chime?

"Chime" is pronounced like the gong ("Ch" as in chimney), despite its name being derived from Chemical MIME.

MDL Chime (or simply "Chime" for short) is a free program to show molecular structure in three dimensions. Its images look like RasMol's because Chime is derived, in part, from RasMol. MDL Chime differs from RasMol in that Chime sits directly on a web page (runs inside your browser as a plug-in), whereas RasMol is a stand-alone program (runs outside your browser, independently). MDL Chime also differs in that most Chime-employing websites show only the molecule(s) provided by the author of the web page you view, whereas RasMol can show any molecule for which you have an atomic coordinate (PDB) file. However, some Chime websites also provide support for showing any molecule of interest, and doing self-directed exploration similar to RasMol, notably Protein Explorer. MDL Chime's ability to support educational resources has had a large impact on stuctural biochemistry education, as exemplified by the many excellent resources indexed in the World Index of Molecular Visualization Resources. MDL Chime can be downloaded free from the web site of its corporate creators, MDL. See MDL Chime: Browsers, Platforms, Installation, Troubleshooting . MolViz.Org illustrates what MDL Chime is cabable of, and provides help for developing tutorials and presentations employing MDL Chime. An ongoing discussion of technical issues about Chime may be seen in the history of the RasMol email list. Here is more about MDL Chime.

Monomer of Oxy-hemoglobin zooming in to oxy-heme (from 1HHO by B. Shaanan). This is an animated picture; you cannot move it with your mouse, unlike when actually displayed in MDL Chime.

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