Examples

Real chemistry, real AsciiChem. Each example shows the source, the model, and the rendered MathML.

Water and hydration

Source Rendered

H_2O CuSO_4

${\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}\mathrm{Cu}\mathrm{S}{\mathrm{O}}_4$

(Hydrate notation — the middle-dot separator — is not yet in the grammar; carry the water of crystallisation as a separate term or an annotation.)

Isotopes

Source Rendered

^14C ^131I ^238U

${}^{14}\mathrm{C}{}^{131}\mathrm{I}{}^{238}\mathrm{U}$

Carbon-14 for radiodating, iodine-131 for medical imaging, uranium-238 for the decay series.

Coordination complexes

Source Rendered

[Fe(CN)_6] [Fe(CN)_6]_3

$\left[\mathrm{Fe}{\left(\mathrm{C}\mathrm{N}\right)}_6\right]{\left[\mathrm{Fe}{\left(\mathrm{C}\mathrm{N}\right)}_6\right]}_3$

(Charges outside a bracket group don’t parse in v1 — see Molecules.)

Acid–base equilibria

Source Rendered

HAc <=> Ac^- + H^+

$\mathrm{H}\mathrm{Ac}\rightleftharpoons {\mathrm{Ac}}^{-}+{\mathrm{H}}^{+}$

For the K_a expression, see embedded math.

Redox

Source Rendered

2Na + Cl_2 -> 2NaCl MnO_4^- + 8H^+ -> Mn^2+ + 4H_2O

$2\mathrm{Na}+{\mathrm{Cl}}_2\to 2\mathrm{Na}\mathrm{Cl}\mathrm{Mn}{\mathrm{O}}_4^{-}+8{\mathrm{H}}^{+}\to {\mathrm{Mn}}^{2+}+4{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}$

(Electrons as e^- are not yet in the grammar — no pseudo-element for the electron; balance the half-reaction without it or carry the electron count in prose.)

Organic

Source Rendered

CH_4 + 2O_2 -> CO_2 + 2H_2O CH_2=CH_2

$\mathrm{C}{\mathrm{H}}_4+2{\mathrm{O}}_2\to \mathrm{C}{\mathrm{O}}_2+2{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}\mathrm{C}{\mathrm{H}}_2=\mathrm{C}{\mathrm{H}}_2$

Skeletal formulae

Skeletal structures (lines and rings) need SVG rendering, which uses the Bond model. See TODO 13 for the v2 plan.

Electron configurations

Source Rendered

1s^2 2s^2 2p^6 3s^2 3p^6 4s^2 3d^10

${\mathrm{1s}}^2 {\mathrm{2s}}^2 {\mathrm{2p}}^6 {\mathrm{3s}}^2 {\mathrm{3p}}^6 {\mathrm{4s}}^2 {\mathrm{3d}}^{10}$

Ground state of zinc.

Industrial chemistry

Source Rendered

N_2 + 3H_2 <=>[Fe][400°C] 2NH_3 2SO_2 + O_2 <=>[V_2O_5] 2SO_3

${\mathrm{N}}_2+3{\mathrm{H}}_2\underset{\mathrm{Fe}}{\overset{\text{400°C}}{\rightleftharpoons }}2\mathrm{N}{\mathrm{H}}_{3}2\mathrm{S}{\mathrm{O}}_2+{\mathrm{O}}_2\stackrel{{\mathrm{V}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_5}{\rightleftharpoons }2\mathrm{S}{\mathrm{O}}_3$

The Haber process and the contact process — both with catalysts and conditions on the equilibrium arrow.

Round-trip

Every example on this page round-trips through the parser. Verify locally:

bundle exec asciichem roundtrip -i "N_2 + 3H_2 <=>[Fe][400°C] 2NH_3"