Molecular Origami

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CoolMolecules: A Molecular Structure Explorer
Iron and Zinc in Enzymes
Introduction to Molecular Geometry
National American Chemical Society Presentation, San Diego, California, April 4, 2001
A Small-Molecule and Metalloprotein Searchable Structural Database
Model Gallery
Hydroxyapatite Model

Molecular Origami - the concept

Molecular Origami is an outgrowth of 'Data-Driven Chemistry', a technique of teaching chemistry under development by Prof. Bob Hanson at St. Olaf College, in Northfield, Minnesota.

Molecular Origami refers to the detailed folding and arrangement of atoms in molecules and network solids. Molecular Origami by Robert M. Hanson (University Science Books) is a set of actual paper models focusing on small organic and inorganic structures. Data are based primarily on electron and x-ray diffraction results. Discussion of the models in terms of bonding and qualitative molecular orbital theory is included. Exact interatomic distances and angles are indicated on these figures. They can be folded to produce three-dimensional scale models of molecules or sections of molecules.

Molecular Origami - the PC program DOWNLOAD

The program Molecular Origami allows you to print most of the structures in the book. In addition, you can investigate molecular structure on your own, using data that you might have access to. The program has an option to retrieve data directly from the internet. Some databases that can be freely accessed include: Brookhaven's Protein Data Bank, SWISS-MODEL Repository, and Indiana University Molecular Structure Center.
There is not a Mac Version of Molecular Origami.
Get a taste of the program by looking at:

Why Use Molecular Origami ?

The computer program originated with the idea of producing paper scale models of proteins. As we looked for other protein computer modelers it became evident that the real value of the program was not just the origami, but also the computer modeling capabilities. Other protein modeling programs exist such as RasMol. For a task such as showing the entire protein structure RasMol does a great job. In fact if you have RasMol, Molecular Origami has a button that displays the current protein with RasMol. Molecular Origami is unique because it enables you to pick and choose what groups you want to look at. This is useful because many proteins have hundreds of amino acids and get extremely complicated to view in their entirety.
Click here to see an entire protein modeled by RasMol.
Click here to see the same protein modeled by Molecular Origami

With Molecular Origami you can view only the parts of the protein you are interested in. It is easy, all you have to do is select the groups you want to appear from a list. They appear on the screen where they can be rotated by moving the mouse.

Unique capabilities of Molecular Origami include:



Using Molecular Origami

Commands in Molecular Origami
Folding the Origami Structures
An Excercise With Molecular Origami
A Sample of Interesting PDB Proteins
A Sample of CRT molecules
Molecular conformations in Biological Models
Hydroxyapatite (Bone) Analysis Using Molecular Origami
User Questionaire

Information Related to Molecular Origami

Origami & Protein Related Links
X-ray Crystallography Information


Origami.EXE is free to download for PC as origam##.zip where ## is the version.

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Modular Origami
Questions? Comments? Suggestions?

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Prof. Hanson
Ben Murray



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