This entry presents Acrolein dimer (C6H8O2; CAS 100-73-2; PubChem CID 60994) as a 3D-printable ball-and-stick model in which every atom carries its engraved element symbol (C, H, O), so the model can be read without a colour key. Atomic coordinates come from the PubChem-computed 3D conformer (not an experimental crystal structure); coordinates and connectivity are unchanged.

Project scope and purpose

MolGod is an open educational-science project that publishes engraved ball-and-stick models of individual chemical compounds. Models are generated deterministically from public structure data and released under CC BY-SA 4.0 together with their identifiers and provenance.

Standard molecular STL files encode geometry only; atom identity, conventionally conveyed by colour, is lost in single-material additive manufacturing. In these models the element symbol is a recessed engraving on each atomic sphere, so atom identity is part of the mesh and remains readable in any print material, visually and by touch.

The design objective is to shorten the time learners need to identify the atoms of a molecule, so that instruction can concentrate on connectivity, bond order and three-dimensional geometry, and to reduce teacher preparation to scaling and slicing a ready file. This is a design rationale: the effect on learning outcomes has not yet been formally evaluated.

Project rationale, related peer-reviewed research and the validation plan: molgod.org/engraved-molecular-models.

Structure at a glance

• 16 atoms: 6 C, 8 H, 2 O

• 16 bonds: 14 single, 2 double

• One 6-membered ring

• Functional groups: one aldehyde group (-CHO), one ether linkage (C-O-C) and one carbon-carbon double bond (C=C)

• One stereocentre; configuration not defined in the source record (no R/S label) — IUPAC name 3,4-dihydro-2H-pyran-2-carbaldehyde

• No hydrogen-bond donors and two acceptors (computed)

• Fraction of sp3-hybridised (tetrahedral) carbon atoms: 0.5 (computed)

Use in teaching

• Counting task: students tally the engraved symbols (6 C, 8 H, 2 O; 16 atoms) and rebuild the formula C6H8O2 from the model alone.

• Stereochemistry: locate the stereocentre; the source record defines no configuration, so the printed conformer should not be read as a specific stereoisomer.

• Functional groups: find the aldehyde group (-CHO), the ether linkage (C-O-C) and the carbon-carbon double bond (C=C) on the model and name each one.

File and printing

STL mesh of 197,044 triangles, a closed (watertight) single solid. Coordinates are in ångström and STL stores no unit, so scale the model deliberately in your slicer. Measured bounding box: 5.555 × 5.281 × 4.573 Å; at scale factor 10 (1 Å to 10 mm, file read in millimetres) the print measures about 55.5 × 52.8 × 45.7 mm. SHA-256: 2b3e38103e691001c2a0f0e26b11f1fc416e1bad8f5c1b07c374ba956bb01b27.

Validation

• InChIKey identical to the PubChem record (PubChem FTP SDF, file dated 2026-10-08): NPWYTMFWRRIFLK-UHFFFAOYSA-N

• Molecular formula and hydrogen-bond donor/acceptor counts identical to PubChem

• Stereocentres in PubChem: 0 defined, 1 undefined; both counts match this record

• Mesh: triangle count in the header equals the actual count; 0 edges not shared by exactly two triangles; 1 connected solid; SHA-256 equal to the published file

Source, licence and identifiers

Full record: molgod.org/molecule/100-73-2 · Licence and provenance record: molgod.org/licenses/stl/100-73-2 · Same file on Wikimedia Commons: File:Acrolein dimer-3D-molecular-model-engraved-CAS-100-73-2.stl

• MolGod ID: MG_334-441-268-62

• Wikidata: Q18018102

• EC number: 202-884-5

• ChemSpider ID: 54955

• InChIKey: NPWYTMFWRRIFLK-UHFFFAOYSA-N

• SMILES: C1CC(OC=C1)C=O

• Molar mass 112.13 g/mol (exact mass 112.052429494)

Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 (licence text). Required attribution: "Acrolein dimer 3D model by MolGod.org — https://molgod.org/molecule/100-73-2/ — CC BY-SA 4.0".