chemical structure

English

Noun

chemical structure (plural chemical structures)

1. (physical chemistry) The arrangement of chemical bonds between atoms in a molecule (or in an ion or radical with multiple atoms), specifically which atoms are chemically bonded to what other atoms with what kind of chemical bond, together with any information on the geometric shape of the molecule needed to uniquely identify the type of molecule.
2. (physical chemistry) A graphical representation of such an arrangement.

Chemical structure (definition 2) of a P4O10 molecule attempting to show three-dimensional geometry.	Simplified representation of the chemical structure of a chlorin molecule. Chemical symbols for carbon and hydrogen atoms are not explicitly shown.