Online tutorial

PDBeChem

Searching for small molecules and small molecule fragments

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Time to complete:

1 hour


Written by:

Last reviewed:

December 2025


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All materials are free cultural works licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license, except where further licensing details are provided.


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PDBeChem allows you to search for chemical components (ligands, small molecules and monomers) that appear in PDB entries, and discover which protein structures bind a particular ligand. This course will show you how to use PDBeChem and what you can do with it.

Feedback and help

Who is this course for?

This courses is suitable for anyone interested in learning about PDBeChem, however undergraduate knowledge of a life science subject would be an advantage. You may wish to look at the PDBe quick tour and Biomacromolecular structures course as an introduction to this tutorial.

What will I achieve?

By the end of the course you will be able to:

  • Evaluate what PDBeChem is and what is can be used for
  • Launch PDBeChem and use different ways to search for small molecules
  • Use the SMILES molecular editor to draw parts of your chemical structure to explore related small molecules on PDB
  • Evaluate your search results from the chemical component summary page

What resources do I need?

There are no specific resources required to complete this course.

DOI: 10.6019/TOL.PDBeC-t.2014.00001.1