CCDC > Teaching and Learning

Teaching and Learning

Software for Teaching Chemistry

Chemistry happens in 3D — show your students with interactive 3D visualizations. Teach concepts like bonding, co-ordination, geometry, chirality and more with 3D models of real-life molecular structures. Explore real-life applications of chemistry such as drug discovery, materials design or nutrients.

We offer a range of free and paid software and data to support teaching chemistry, biochemistry, pharmaceutical science, materials science, crystallography and more.

Included

CellCheckCSD

Check unit cells during data collection.

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CSD Symmetry

Observed molecular and crystallographic symmetry properties.

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Free Mercury

View, explore, and perform basic analyses on crystal structures.

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Teaching Applications

View 3D Molecular Structures

Show real-life molecules in 3D, to explore concepts like geometry, chirality, co-ordination and more.

Our free CSD Teaching Subset contains 750+ molecules chosen to demonstrate key concepts.

Teach Fundamental Chemistry Concepts

Free PDF lesson plans and worksheets to teach concepts at A-level (high school) and undergraduate levels. Topics covered include symmetry operations, metal-organic complexes, chirality and more.

Teach Crystallography

Teach crystallography with the extensive collection of free resources in DECOR. Make this topic accessible, relevant, and break down complex ideas with a range of presentations, PDFs, and online courses.

Visualize Molecular Structures

View molecular structures from the public data or your own experiments in the free version of Mercury. Customize the view, explore symmetry planes, and generate images, animations or 3D printing files.

Analyse Molecular Structures

Assess bond lengths, ring geometry, valence and torsion angles, and generate charts and statistics about any molecular structure in the full version of Mercury, for a more in-depth exploration of molecules.

Explore Interactions

Examine how molecules prefer to interact. Generate visual maps showing where hydrogen bond donors and acceptors are likely to interact, all based on empirical data from the CSD. Learn about interactions, and applications of big-data and cheminformatics.

Case Studies

Guest blogs from science educators sharing how they used the CSD data and software in their teaching.

CSD Educators
Database Group
Education and Outreach

CSD Educators: Alessia Bacchi from Università di Parma

CSD Educators
Education and Outreach

CSD Educators: Anthony L. Fernandez from Merrimack College, US

Crystallography
CSD Educators
Data
Education and Outreach
IUCr

CSD Educators: Canadian Chemical Crystallography Workshop

Crystallographers
Crystallography
CSD Educators
Education and Outreach

CSD Educators: Chiara Massera Professor at the University of Parma

CSD Educators
Database Group
Education and Outreach

CSD Educators: Natalia Alvarez from Universidad de la República, Uruguay

CSD Educators
FAIRE
Scientific Research

CSD-Educators: Marielle Agbahoungbata from X-TechLab in Benin

CSD Educators
Education and Outreach

CSD-Educators: the CCDC Virtual Workshops Experience

CSD Educators
Database Group
Education and Outreach

CSD-Educators: Michael Zdilla Professor at Temple University

CSD Educators

CSD Educators: Dean H. Johnston from Otterbein University

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Download Free CSD Software and Data

Explore the CSD-Community free data and software collection, and download it to get started today.

CSD-Community Software

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Education Newsletter

Professor Gregory Ferrence

Illinois State University

"I have been a CSD user for at least 25 years"

I have been a CSD user for at least 25 years and have been collaborating with CCDC scientists for over 15 years. With support from the U.S. National Science Foundation, I worked with the CCDC to provide two years of faculty training and full access for Chemistry Departments at dozens of U.S. Community Colleges and Primarily Undergraduate Institutions. This collaboration helped us better understand how the CSD could be utilized to teach chemistry students.

Professor Miriam Rossi

Vassar College

"The CSD is my primary (and indespensible) teaching tool."

I have been using it for over 20 years to illustrate the 3D structures of interesting molecules! The teaching database, Mercury, and WebCSD have made the CSD my primary (and indispensible) teaching tool. Students inevitably love seeing the magnificent structures and Mercury is so easy to use that they become captivated.

Professor Gregory Ferrence

Illinois State University

"I have been a CSD user for at least 25 years"

Professor Miriam Rossi

Vassar College

"The CSD is my primary (and indespensible) teaching tool."

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