1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
729
730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737
738
739
740
741
742
743
744
745
746
747
748
749
750
751
752
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783
784
785
786
787
788
789
790
791
792
793
794
795
796
797
798
799
800
801
802
803
804
805
806
807
808
809
810
811
812
813
814
815
816
817
818
819
820
821
822
823
824
825
826
827
828
829
830
831
832
833
834
835
836
837
838
839
840
841
842
843
844
845
846
847
848
849
850
851
852
853
854
855
856
857
858
859
860
861
862
863
864
865
866
867
868
869
870
871
872
873
874
875
876
877
878
879
880
881
882
883
884
885
886
887
888
889
890
891
892
893
894
895
896
897
898
899
900
901
902
903
904
905
906
907
908
909
910
911
912
913
914
915
916
917
918
919
920
921
922
923
924
925
926
927
928
929
930
931
932
933
934
935
936
937
938
939
940
941
|
.TH CHEM 1 "7 February 2022" "groff 1.22.4"
.SH NAME
chem \- groff preprocessor for producing chemical structure diagrams
.
.\" chem.1 - man page for chem (section 1).
.\" Source file position: <groff_source_top>/contrib/chem/chem.man
.\" Installed position: $prefix/share/man/man1/chem.1
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.\" Legal Terms
.\" ====================================================================
.\"
.\" Copyright (C) 2006-2018 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
.\"
.\" This file is part of chem, which is part of groff, a free software
.\" project.
.\"
.\" You can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU
.\" General Public License version 2 (GPL2) as published by the Free
.\" Software Foundation.
.\"
.\" The license text for GPL2 is available in the internet at
.\" <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html>.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.\" Setup
.\" ====================================================================
.
.
.\" Save and disable compatibility mode (for, e.g., Solaris 10/11).
.do nr chem_C \n[.C]
.cp 0
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.\" Characters
.\" ====================================================================
.
.\" Ellipsis ...
.ie t .ds EL \fS\N'188'\fP\"
.el .ds EL \&.\|.\|.\&\"
.\" called with \*(EL
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.\" ====================================================================
.
.SY chem
.OP \-\-
.RI [ filespec
\*(EL]
.YS
.
.SY chem
.B \-h
.SY chem
.B \-\-help
.YS
.
.SY chem
.B \-v
.SY chem
.B \-\-version
.YS
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH DESCRIPTION
.\" ====================================================================
.
.I chem
produces chemical structure diagrams.
.
Today's version is best suited for organic chemistry (bonds, rings).
.
The
.B chem
program is a
.B groff
preprocessor like
.BR eqn ,
.BR pic ,
.BR tbl ,
etc.
.
It generates
.I pic
output such that all
.I chem
parts are translated into diagrams of the
.I pic
language.
.
.
.P
A
.I filespec
argument is either a file name of an existing file or a minus
character
.BR \- ,
meaning standard input.
.
If no argument is specified then standard input is taken
automatically.
.
.B \-h
and
.B \-\-help
display a usage message,
whereas
.B \-v
and
.B \-\-version
display version information;
all exit.
.
.
.P
The program
.B chem
originates from the Perl source file
.IR chem.pl .
.
It tells
.B pic
to include a copy of the macro file
.IR chem.pic .
.
Moreover the
.I groff
source file
.I pic.tmac
is loaded.
.
.
.P
In a style reminiscent of
.I eqn
and
.IR pic ,
the
.I chem
diagrams are written in a special language.
.
.
.P
A set of
.I chem
lines looks like this
.
.
.IP
.nf
.ft B
\&.cstart
\fIchem data\fP
\&.cend
.ft
.fi
.
.
.P
Lines containing the keywords
.B .cstart
and
.B .cend
start and end the input for
.BR chem ,
respectively.
.
In
.I pic
context, i.e., after the call of
.BR .PS ,
.I chem
input can optionally be started by the line
.B \%begin\~chem
and ended by the line with the single word
.B end
instead.
.
.
.P
Anything outside these initialization lines is copied through
without modification;
all data between the initialization lines is converted into
.I pic
commands to draw the diagram.
.
.
.P
As an example,
.
.IP
.nf
.ft B
\&.cstart
CH3
bond
CH3
\&.cend
.ft
.fi
.
.
.P
prints two
.B CH3
groups with a bond between them.
.
.
.P
To actually view this, you must run
.B chem
followed by
.BR groffer :
.
.IP
.B chem [file \*(EL] | groffer
.
.P
If you want to create just
.B groff
output, you must run
.B chem
followed by
.B groff
with the option
.B \-p
for the activation of
.BR pic :
.IP
.B chem [file \*(EL] | groff \-p \*(EL
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH THE LANGUAGE
.\" ====================================================================
.
The
.I chem
input language is rather small. It provides rings of several styles
and a way to glue them together as desired, bonds of several styles,
moieties (e.g.,
.BR C ,
.BR NH3 ,
\*(EL, and strings.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS Setting Variables
.\" ====================================================================
.
There are some variables that can be set by commands.
.
Such commands have two possible forms, either
.
.RS
.P
.I "variable value"
.RE
.
.P
or
.
.RS
.P
.IB "variable " = " value"
.RE
.
.P
This sets the given
.I variable
to the argument
.IR value .
If more arguments are given only the last argument is taken, all other
arguments are ignored.
.
.
.P
There are only a few variables to be set by these commands:
.
.TP
.BI textht " arg"
Set the height of the text to
.IR arg ;
default is 0.16.
.
.TP
.BI cwid " arg"
Set the character width to
.IR arg ;
default is 0.12.
.
.TP
.BI db " arg"
Set the bond length to
.IR arg ;
default is 0.2.
.
.TP
.BI size " arg"
Scale the diagram to make it look plausible at point size
.IR arg ;
default is 10 point.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS Bonds
.\" ====================================================================
.
This
.
.RS
.SY bond
.RI [ direction ]
.RI [ length\ n ]
.RB [ from\ \c
.IR Name | picstuff ]
.YS
.RE
.
.P
draws a single bond in direction from nearest corner of
.IR Name .
.B bond
can also be
.BR "double bond" ,
.BR "front bond" ,
.BR "back bond" ,
etc.
.
(We will get back to
.I Name
soon.)
.
.
.P
.I direction
is the angle in degrees (0\~up, positive clockwise)
or a direction word like
.BR up ,
.BR down ,
.B sw
(=\~southwest), etc.
.
If no direction is specified, the bond goes in the current direction
(usually that of the last bond).
.
.
.P
Normally the bond begins at the last object placed; this
can be changed by naming a
.B from
place.
.
For instance, to make a simple alkyl chain:
.
.RS
.TS
tab (@);
lb l.
CH3
bond@(this one goes right from the CH3)
C@(at the right end of the bond)
double bond up@(from the C)
O@(at the end of the double bond)
bond right from C
CH3
.TE
.RE
.
.
.P
A length in inches may be specified to override the default length.
.
Other
.I pic
commands can be tacked on to the end of a bond command, to created
dotted or dashed bonds or to specify a
.B to
place.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS Rings
.\" ====================================================================
.
There are lots of rings, but only 5 and 6-sided rings get
much support.
.
.B ring
by itself is a 6-sided ring;
.B benzene
is the benzene ring with a circle inside.
.B aromatic
puts a circle into any kind of ring.
.
.RS
.SY ring
.RB [ \%pointing\ ( up | right | left | down )]
.RB [ \%aromatic ]
.RB [ put\ Mol\ at\ \fIn\/\fP ]
.RB [ \%double\ \c
.IR i , j\ \/\c
.IR k , l\ \/\c
\*(EL
.RI [ picstuff ]
.YS
.RE
.
.
.P
The vertices of a ring are numbered 1, 2, \*(EL from the
vertex that points in the natural compass direction.
.
So for a hexagonal ring with the point at the top, the top vertex
is\~1, while if the ring has a point at the east side, that is
vertex\~1.
.
This is expressed as
.
.IP
.ft B
.nf
R1: ring pointing up
R2: ring pointing right
.fi
.ft
.
.
.P
The ring vertices are named
.BR .V1 ,
\*(EL,
.BI .V n\fR,\fP
with
.B .V1
in the pointing direction.
.
So the corners of
.B R1
are
.B R1.V1
(the
.IR top ),
.BR R1.V2 ,
.BR R1.V3 ,
.B R1.V4
(the
.IR bottom ),
etc., whereas for
.BR R2 ,
.B R2.V1
is the rightmost vertex and
.B R2.V4
the leftmost.
.
These vertex names are used for connecting bonds or other rings. For
example,
.
.IP
.ft B
.nf
R1: benzene pointing right
R2: benzene pointing right with .V6 at R1.V2
.fi
.ft
.P
creates two benzene rings connected along a side.
.
.
.P
Interior double bonds are specified as
.BI \%double\ n1 , n2\ n3 , n4\ \fR\*(EL;\fP
each number pair adds an interior bond.
.
So the alternate form of a benzene ring is
.
.IP
.B "ring double 1,2 3,4 5,6"
.
.
.P
Heterocycles (rings with something other than carbon at a vertex) are
written as
.BI put\ X\ at\ V\fR,\fP
as in
.
.IP
.B "R: ring put N at 1 put O at 2"
.
.
.P
In this heterocycle,
.B R.N
and
.B R.O
become synonyms for
.B R.V1
and
.BR R.V2 .
.
.
.P
There are two 5-sided rings.
.
.B ring5
is pentagonal with a side that matches the 6-sided ring; it has four
natural directions.
.
A
.B \%flatring
is a 5-sided ring created by chopping one corner of a 6-sided ring so
that it exactly matches the 6-sided rings.
.
.
.P
The description of a ring has to fit on a single line.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS Moieties and Strings
.\" ====================================================================
.
A moiety is a string of characters beginning with a capital letter,
such as N(C2H5)2.
.
Numbers are converted to subscripts (unless they appear to be
fractional values, as in N2.5H).
.
The name of a moiety is determined from the moiety after special
characters have been stripped out: e.g., N(C2H5)2) has the name NC2H52.
.
.
.P
Moieties can be specified in two kinds.
.
Normally a moiety is placed right after the last thing mentioned,
separated by a semicolon surrounded by spaces, e.g.,
.
.IP
.B "B1: bond ; OH"
.
.P
Here the moiety is
.BR OH ;
it is set after a bond.
.
.
.P
As the second kind a moiety can be positioned as the first word in a
.IR pic -like
command, e.g.,
.
.IP
.B "CH3 at C + (0.5,0.5)"
.
.P
Here the moiety is
.BR CH3 .
It is placed at a position relative to
.BR C ,
a moiety used earlier in the chemical structure.
.
.
.P
So moiety names can be specified as
.I chem
positions everywhere in the
.I chem
code.
.
Beneath their printing moieties are names for places.
.
.
.P
The moiety
.B BP
is special.
.
It is not printed but just serves as a mark to be referred to in later
.I chem
commands.
.
For example,
.
.IP
.B "bond ; BP"
.
.P
sets a mark at the end of the bond.
.
This can be used then for specifying a place.
.
The name
.B BP
is derived from
.I branch point
(i.e., line crossing).
.
.
.P
A string within double quotes
.B \(dq
is interpreted as a part of a
.I chem
command.
.
It represents a string that should be printed (without the quotes).
.
Text within quotes \(dq\*(EL\(dq is treated more or less
like a moiety except that no changes are made to the quoted part.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS Names
.\" ====================================================================
.
In the alkyl chain above, notice that the carbon atom
.B C
was used both to draw something and as the name for a place.
.
A moiety always defines a name for a place; you can use
your own names for places instead, and indeed, for rings
you will have to.
.
A name is just
.
.IP
.IB Name :
\*(EL
.
.
.P
.I Name
is often the name of a moiety like
.BR CH3 ,
but it need not to be.
.
Any name that begins with a capital letter and which contains
only letters and numbers is valid:
.
.RS
.TP
.B First:
.B bond
.TQ
\&
.B "bond 30 from First"
.RE
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS Miscellaneous
.\" ====================================================================
.
The specific construction
.RS
.TP
.BR bond\ \*(EL " ; moiety"
.RE
.P
is equivalent to
.IP
.ft B
.nf
bond
moiety
.fi
.ft
.
.
.P
Otherwise, each item has to be on a separate line (and only one line).
Note that there must be whitespace after the semicolon which separates
the commands.
.
.
.P
A period character
.B .\&
or a single quote
.B '
in the first column of a line signals a
.I troff
command, which is copied through as-is.
.
.
.P
A line whose first non-blank character is a hash character
.RB ( # )
is treated as a comment and thus ignored.
.
However, hash characters within a word are kept.
.
.
.P
A line whose first word is
.B pic
is copied through as-is after the word
.B pic
has been removed.
.
.
.P
The command
.IP
.B size
.I n
.P
scales the diagram to make it look plausible at point size\~\c
.I n
(default is 10\~point).
.
.
.P
Anything else is assumed to be
.I pic
code, which is copied through with a label.
.
.
.P
Since
.B chem
is a
.B pic
preprocessor, it is possible to include
.I pic
statements in the middle of a diagram to draw things not provided for
by
.I chem
itself.
.
Such
.I pic
statements should be included in
.I chem
code by adding
.B pic
as the first word of this line for clarity.
.
.
.P
The following
.I pic
commands are accepted as
.I chem
commands, so no
.B pic
command word is needed:
.
.IP
.B define
Start the definition of
.I pic
macro within
.IR chem .
.
.RS
.TP
.B [
Start a block composite.
.
.TP
.B ]
End a block composite.
.
.TP
.B {
Start a macro definition block.
.
.TP
.B }
End a macro definition block.
.RE
.
.P
The macro names from
.B define
statements are stored and their call is accepted as a
.I chem
command as well.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS WISH LIST
.\" ====================================================================
.
.P
This TODO list was collected by Brian Kernighan.
.
.
.P
Error checking is minimal; errors are usually detected and reported in
an oblique fashion by
.IR pic .
.
.
.P
There is no library or file inclusion mechanism, and there is no
shorthand for repetitive structures.
.
.
.P
The extension mechanism is to create
.I pic
macros, but these are tricky to get right and don't have all the
properties of built-in objects.
.
.
.P
There is no in-line chemistry yet (e.g., analogous to the $\*(EL$
construct of eqn).
.
.
.P
There is no way to control entry point for bonds on groups.
.
Normally a bond connects to the carbon atom if entering from
the top or bottom and otherwise to the nearest corner.
.
.
.P
Bonds from substituted atoms on heterocycles do not join at the proper
place without adding a bit of
.IR pic .
.
.
.P
There is no decent primitive for brackets.
.
.
.P
Text (quoted strings) doesn't work very well.
.
.
.P
A squiggle bond is needed.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH "FILES"
.\" ====================================================================
.
.TP
.I /usr/\:share/\:groff/\:1.22.4/pic/chem.pic
A collection of
.I pic
macros needed by
.BR chem .
.
.TP
.I /usr/\:share/\:groff/\:1.22.4/\:tmac/pic.tmac
A macro file which redefines
.B .PS
and
.B .PE
to center
.I pic
diagrams.
.
.TP
.IR /usr/\:share/\:doc/\:packages/\:groff/examples/chem/ * .chem
Example files for
.IR chem .
.
.TP
.IR /usr/\:share/\:doc/\:packages/\:groff/examples/chem/122/ * .chem
Example files from the classical
.I chem
article
.I "CHEM \[en] A Program for Typesetting Chemical Structure Diagrams"
[CSTR\~#122].
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH AUTHORS
.\" ====================================================================
.
The GNU version of
.B chem
was written by
.MT groff\-bernd.warken\-72@\:web.de
Bernd Warken
.ME .
.
It is based on the documentation of Brian Kernighan's original
.I awk
version of
.I chem
at
.UR http://\:cm.bell\-labs.com/\:cm/\:cs/\:who/\:bwk/\:index.html
.UE .
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.\" ====================================================================
.
.BR \%groff (1),
.BR \%pic (1),
.BR \%groffer (1).
.
.
.P
You can still get the original
.UR http://\:cm.bell\-labs.com/\:netlib/\:typesetting/\:chem.gz
chem awk source
.UE .
.
Its
.B README
file was used for this manual page.
.
.
.P
The other classical document on
.I chem
is
.UR http://\:cm.bell\-labs.com/\:cm/\:cs/\:cstr/\:122.ps.gz
.I "CHEM \[en] A Program for Typesetting Chemical Structure Diagrams"
[CSTR\~#122]
.UE .
.
.
.\" Restore compatibility mode (for, e.g., Solaris 10/11).
.cp \n[chem_C]
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.\" Emacs settings
.\" ====================================================================
.
.\" Local Variables:
.\" mode: nroff
.\" End:
.\" vim: set filetype=groff:
|