3D Printed Molecules and Extended Solid Models for
Teaching Symmetry and Point Groups
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Abstract
Tangible models help students and
researchers visualize chemical
structures in three dimensions (3D). 3D printing offers a unique and
straightforward approach to fabricate plastic 3D models of molecules
and extended solids. In this article, we prepared a series of digital
3D design files of molecular structures that will be useful for teaching
chemical education topics such as symmetry and point groups. Two main
file preparation methods are discussed within this article that outlines
how to prepare 3D printable chemical structures. Both methods start
with either a crystallographic information file (.cif) or a protein
databank (.pdb) file and are ultimately converted into a 3D stereolithography
(.stl) file by using a variety of commercially and freely available
software. From the series of digital 3D chemical structures prepared,
18 molecules and 7 extended solids were 3D printed. Our results show
that the file preparation methods discussed within this article are
both suitable routes to prepare 3D printable digital files of chemical
structures. Further, our results also suggest that 3D printing is
an excellent method for fabricating 3D models of molecules and extended
solids