Create professional chemistry documents with LaTeX, including chemical formulas, reaction equations, and molecular structures.
Essential Chemistry Packages \usepackage { chemfig } % Molecular structures \usepackage { mhchem } % Chemical formulas and equations \usepackage { chemmacros } % Chemistry macros \usepackage { siunitx } % SI units \usepackage { chemformula } % Alternative to mhchem \usepackage { mol2chemfig } % Convert SMILES to chemfig % Simple molecules \ce {H2O} % Water \ce {CO2} % Carbon dioxide \ce {H2SO4} % Sulfuric acid \ce {Ca(OH)2} % Calcium hydroxide % Ions \ce {Na+} % Sodium ion \ce {SO4^2-} % Sulfate ion \ce {NH4+} % Ammonium ion % Isotopes \ce {^{14}C} % Carbon-14 \ce {^{235}U} % Uranium-235 Rendered output: \ce{H2O} → H₂O
\ce{CO2} → CO₂
\ce{H2SO4} → H₂SO₄
\ce{Na+} → Na⁺
\ce{SO4^2-} → SO₄²⁻
States and Phases % Physical states \ce {H2O(l)} % Liquid water \ce {CO2(g)} % Gaseous CO2 \ce {NaCl(s)} % Solid salt \ce {Na+(aq)} % Aqueous sodium ion % Crystal structures \ce {CaCO3.H2O} % Hydrate \ce {Fe^{II}Fe^{III}2O4} % Mixed oxidation states Chemical Reactions Basic Reactions % Simple reaction \ce {2H2 + O2 -> 2H2O} % With conditions \ce {N2 + 3H2 ->[ \text {Fe cat.}][450°C, 200 atm] 2NH3} % Equilibrium \ce {N2O4 <=> 2NO2} % With heat \ce {CaCO3 ->[ \Delta ] CaO + CO2} % Precipitation \ce {AgNO3(aq) + NaCl(aq) -> AgCl v + NaNO3(aq)} Rendered output: \ce{2H2 + O2 -> 2H2O} → 2H₂ + O₂ → 2H₂O
\ce{N2O4 <=> 2NO2} → N₂O₄ ⇌ 2NO₂
\ce{AgCl v} → AgCl ↓
Complex Reactions % Multi-step reactions \begin { align } \ce{CH 4 + Cl 2 & ->[\text{UV}] CH 3 Cl + HCl} \\ \ce{CH 3 Cl + Cl 2 & ->[\text{UV}] CH 2 Cl 2 + HCl} \end { align } % Organic reactions \ce {R-OH + R'-COOH <=>[H+] R'-COO-R + H2O} % Redox reactions \ce {MnO4- + 8H+ + 5e- -> Mn^2+ + 4H2O} Molecular Structures with chemfig Simple Molecules % Methane \chemfig {C(-[2]H)(-[4]H)(-[6]H)-H} % Ethanol \chemfig {H-C(-[2]H)(-[6]H)-C(-[2]H)(-[6]H)-OH} % Benzene \chemfig {*6(=-=-=-)} % Cyclohexane (chair conformation) \chemfig {*6(---(-[,,,,line width=2pt])---)} Rendered output: \chemfig{C(-[2]H)(-[4]H)(-[6]H)-H} → Methane structure
\chemfig{*6(=-=-=-)} → Benzene ring
Complex Structures % Glucose \chemfig { HO-[2,0.5,2]?<[7,0.7](-[2,0.5]OH)-[,,,,line width=2pt] (-[6,0.5]OH)>[1,0.7](-[6,0.5]OH)-[3,0.7] (-[4,0.5]OH)-[1,0.7]O-[7,0.7]? } % Aspirin \chemfig { *6(=-*6(-(=O)-O-(-=[:30]O)-CH_3)=-=-) } % DNA base pairing \chemfig { N**6(--N--C(=[::60]O)--*5(-N=-N(-H)-)) @{a1}.|[,3.0]|@{a2}. N**6(-C(-H_3)-C(=[::60]O)-N(-H)--*5(=N--N=)) } \chemmove { \draw [dashed] (a1) -- (a2);} Rendered output: \chemfig{glucose structure} → Complex glucose molecule
\chemfig{aspirin structure} → Aspirin molecular structure
Reaction Mechanisms Arrow Pushing % Nucleophilic substitution \schemestart \chemfig {R-X} + \chemfig { \charge {90= \| }{Nu}} \arrow {->[ $ S_N 2 $ ]} \chemfig {R-Nu} + \chemfig {X^-} \schemestop % Elimination reaction \schemestart \chemfig {H-C(-[2]H)(-[6]H)-C(-[2]H)(-[6]X)-H} \arrow {->[ $ E 2 $ ][-HX]} \chemfig {H-C(-[2]H)=C(-[6]H)-H} \schemestop Rendered output: \arrow{->[S N 2 S_N2 S N 2 → SN2 reaction mechanism \arrow{->[E 2 E2 E 2 → E2 elimination mechanism Curved Arrows \chemfig { @{a1} \charge {45= \| }{O}-H@{a2} \+ R-@{b1} \charge {180= \| }{Br}@{b2} } \chemmove { \draw [->] (a1) .. controls +(45:5mm) and +(135:5mm) .. (b1); \draw [->] (b1) .. controls +(0:5mm) and +(0:5mm) .. (b2); } Rendered output: \chemmove{\draw[->] (a1) .. controls +(45:5mm)} → Curved arrow mechanism
Laboratory Equipment Common Glassware % Using TikZ for simple diagrams \begin { tikzpicture } % Round bottom flask \draw (0,0) circle (1cm); \draw (-0.3,1) -- (-0.3,2); \draw (0.3,1) -- (0.3,2); % Beaker \draw (3,0) -- (3,2) -- (4,2) -- (4,0); \draw (3,0) arc (180:360:0.5cm); \end { tikzpicture } Chemical Tables Periodic Table Elements \begin { table }[h] \centering \begin { tabular }{|c|c|c|c|} \hline \textbf { Symbol } & \textbf { Name } & \textbf { Number } & \textbf { Mass } \\ \hline H & Hydrogen & 1 & 1.008 \\ He & Helium & 2 & 4.003 \\ Li & Lithium & 3 & 6.941 \\ Be & Beryllium & 4 & 9.012 \\ \hline \end { tabular } \caption {First four elements} \end { table } Thermodynamic Data % Using siunitx for proper formatting \begin { table }[h] \centering \begin { tabular }{l S[table-format=3.1] S[table-format=3.1]} \toprule Compound & { $ \Delta H_f° $ ( \si {kJ/mol})} & { $ S° $ ( \si {J/(mol.K)})} \\ \midrule \ce {H2O(l)} & -285.8 & 69.9 \\ \ce {CO2(g)} & -393.5 & 213.8 \\ \ce {O2(g)} & 0.0 & 205.0 \\ \bottomrule \end { tabular } \end { table } Units and Measurements Using siunitx % Basic units \SI {25.0}{°C} % Temperature \SI {101.325}{kPa} % Pressure \SI {2.5e-3}{mol/L} % Concentration \SI {98.5}{ \percent } % Percentage % Complex units \SI {8.314}{J/(mol.K)} % Gas constant \SI {6.022e23}{mol^{-1}} % Avogadro's number % Ranges \SIrange {20}{25}{°C} \SIrange {1}{5}{mL} Alternative Syntax % Using chemformula package \ch {H2O} % Water \ch {H+ + OH- <=> H2O} % Equilibrium \ch {CO2 + H2O -> H2CO3} % Reaction % With stoichiometry \ch {!( 2 H2 + O2 -> 2 H2O )} % Oxidation states \ch {Fe^{III}Cl3} Common Chemistry Symbols Symbol LaTeX Meaning ⇌ \ce{<=>}Equilibrium → \ce{->}Reaction arrow ↓ \ce{v}Precipitate ↑ \ce{^}Gas evolution Δ \DeltaHeat ° ° or \degreeDegree ± \pmPlus/minus · \cdotHydrate dot
Spectroscopy Notation NMR Spectroscopy % Chemical shifts $ \delta $ \SI {7.25}{ppm} (s, 5H, Ph) $ \delta $ \SI {3.65}{ppm} (q, $ J = \SI{ 7.1 }{Hz} $ , 2H, \ce {CH2}) % Coupling constants $ ^ 3 J_\text{HH} = \SI{ 7.5 }{Hz} $ $ ^ 1 J_\text{CH} = \SI{ 125 }{Hz} $ IR Spectroscopy % Wavenumbers \SI {3500}{cm^{-1}} (O--H stretch) \SI {1715}{cm^{-1}} (C=O stretch) \SI {2950}{cm^{-1}} (C--H stretch) % Peak descriptions $ \tilde{ \nu } $ = \SI {1650}{cm^{-1}} (s, br) Best Practices
Consistent Notation Use the same package throughout your document
Define Abbreviations Define all chemical abbreviations when first used
Use SI Units Always use siunitx for measurements
Clear Structures Keep molecular structures simple and readable
Troubleshooting Common issues :
Package conflicts: Don’t load both mhchem and chemformula
Font issues: Some chemistry fonts require special setup
Compilation: chemfig structures may need multiple passes
Further Reading 