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Synthesis

Re: virtual reality and chemistry

April 25, 2016 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 94, Issue 17

Inspired by C&EN’s April 4 story on the potential uses of virtual reality (VR) in the central science (page 22), readers went online to discuss the possibilities.
cenm.ag/chemvr

I, for one, always dream about having the ability to dive into the ligand binding pocket, look around, and see what we can do to optimize the ligand-receptor interactions. I would think the availability of such technologies will really enable nonprofessional molecule modelers to get a much better feeling on visualizing modeling results and facilitate the drug design process. This, of course, will require concerted efforts from the modeling software developers to materialize. I cannot wait to put one on my head.

Wei Li via C&EN’s website

I had the chance to use VR to “see” a protein and walk through the atoms to get a closer look at different parts. I think it can be useful. But what I really missed was having special gloves that would let me “feel” the intermolecular forces. Now I think that would be useful.

Mark E. Casida via Facebook

Some don’t need VR; they can already do it in their heads ... and I’m wondering what the problem with an old-fashioned (ha!) computer screen is.

Andrew Benjamin Engelhart via Facebook

Someone else can have my VR goggles. When the day comes that I can’t visualize the molecules that I synthesize, I’ll know it’s time to retire.

Amy Bosserman Melhorn via Facebook

LOL! Sure beats those stupid balls and sticks we used in organic chemistry ... yes, I’m THAT old.

Barb Coffey Carwithen via ­Facebook

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