Build with templates
Find a structure
Section titled “Find a structure”Open Templates. Pick a category or search by name, then choose a structure. Hover a thumbnail to see its name.
Macrocycles and ligands
Section titled “Macrocycles and ligands”The library includes 202 built-in templates: rings and fused ring parents, heterocycles including 9H-purine, amino acids, nucleobases, carbohydrates, Fischer projections, nucleosides and nucleotides, steroids, macrocycles, ligands and coordination geometry frames (square planar, trigonal bipyramidal and octahedral). Macrocycles contains 12-crown-4, 15-crown-5, 18-crown-6, cyclen, cyclam and Porphine (21H,23H). Search porphyrin to place a free-base porphine with equal bond lengths. Ligands includes bipyridine, phenanthroline, terpyridine, triphenylphosphine, dppe, acetylacetone and ethylenediamine. Search or browse these collections, then use the same placement and attachment controls as other templates.
These are the current group and template definitions. Their coverage, labels and layouts may be extended or revised in future releases. You can save your own editable copies and custom templates now.
The shortcut reference includes one editable .rsk file of sample groups and structures to copy into your drawings.
Draw carbohydrates
Section titled “Draw carbohydrates”Choose Carbohydrates for α/β Haworth templates of D-glucose, D-galactose, D-mannose, D-ribose, D-fructose, 2-deoxy-D-ribose, D-xylose, L-fucose, L-rhamnose, GlcNAc, GalNAc and D-glucuronic acid, each also with a ring H variant. They contain defined stereochemistry and real atoms behind the CH₂OH labels. Search by sugar name, glycan symbol, Haworth, alpha or beta, then place the template in empty space.
The ring palette also offers Haworth 5 and Haworth 6 outlines. Oxygen-containing scaffolds are in Carbohydrates. Blank scaffolds do not assign stereochemistry automatically.
Native files, figure exports and checked CDXML/CDX exports retain the supplied Haworth projections’ appearance. MOL and SMILES retain their defined chemistry. Editable export rejects a projection whose visible substituents conflict with its stored stereochemistry. Read the Haworth usage and verification notes.
Choose how it connects
Section titled “Choose how it connects”Click the exact atom or bond in the large template preview, then its destination on the canvas.
| Mode | Result |
|---|---|
| Connect with a bond | Joins two atoms with a new single bond |
| Share an atom | Merges the chosen atoms |
| Fuse along a bond | Shares an edge and both endpoints |
Drag from the destination to choose a direction. Shift/Ctrl snaps the angle; Alt/Option frees it. Click empty space to place a separate structure.
With the Benzene toolbar tool, click an aromatic carbon to connect a phenyl group by a single bond (benzene becomes biphenyl), or click/drag from a bond to fuse. A terminal carbon can become part of the new ring. Existing ring bond orders are retained when connecting a phenyl group.
The Benzene toolbar tool, six-membered Aromatic circle tool (including Cmd/Ctrl placement), and aromatic templates use the same fusion rules. They can share multiple edges when closing a fused-ring bay, including adding only the missing bond when all six ring atoms already exist, and can rearrange eligible double bonds in the affected aromatic region. Existing atoms keep their positions. Incompatible elements, protected attachment atoms, and attachments that exceed valence are rejected without changing the drawing. A circle is shown only when the resulting six-membered ring is conjugated; a constrained closure containing a methylene carbon keeps its valid alternating-bond drawing. Nonaromatic templates retain their ordinary attachment rules.
Keep placing is on by default. Click successive atoms or bonds to attach more copies, including fused rings, without reselecting the template. Each placement is one Undo step. Escape ends placement; turn off Keep placing for a single insertion. Use Browse templates or your mouse’s Back button to return to the library.
Keep a fragment for later
Section titled “Keep a fragment for later”- Select the structure, including any captions or arrows you want.
- Choose Save selection as template. Give it a name and collection, then Save.
- In its preview, choose an attachment point and Remember anchor.
Use Favorite for quick access. Custom templates also have Edit, Replace from selection, and Remove template. Undo library change restores the last library edit.
Export and Import in Templates share a .reshiki-templates collection.
Already have the fragment on the canvas? Select it and choose Move & attach… above the canvas.
