3D printing has entered the mainstream.  The costs, compactness, low maintenance, and overall reliability of 3D printers have trended favorably in recent years to an extent that it is now possible to implement this technology within essentially any academic setting.  How might chemical educators take advantage of 3D printing to enhance curricula and promote student learning of chemical principles?  Several examples are presented, ranging from the printing of simple ball-and-stick models of common chemical structures to the fabrication of more realistic, space-filling models of proteins and molecular complexes.  The possibility of involving students in 3D printing mini-projects is also discussed and illustrated through two examples: (1) the conversion of open-access, online Protein Data Bank (PDB) information into 3D printed structures and (2) printing a 3D model of a chiral host-guest complex, generated using quantum computational software.

3D printing to create models that enhance student understanding of molecular structure and function

247th National Meeting (2014)

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