What are Bond Line Views?

Question

Sarah Angotti · Accepted Answer

A bond-line view is a condensed way of representing the structural formula of a molecule.

For example, here is the structural formula of retinol, a compound that is important in the chemistry of vision.

It takes a long time to write out all these atoms and bonds, so chemists have developed a shorthand method called a bond-line view.

The rules for drawing bond-line structures are:

The carbon atoms and the hydrogen atoms attached to them are not shown.
Only the bonds between the carbon atoms are shown as lines.
The vertices and end of lines represent carbon atoms.
Any unfilled valences on carbon are assumed to be filled by hydrogen atoms.
All atoms other than carbon, plus any hydrogen atoms attached to them, are shown.
Exception: The hydrogen in an aldehyde group is usually shown.

Nolan Allen · Answer

undefined Bond line views, also known as skeletal structures or shorthand structures, are a simplified way to represent organic molecules in structural formulas. In this representation, carbon atoms are implied at the intersection of lines, and hydrogen atoms are assumed to fill the remaining valency. Functional groups and other heteroatoms are explicitly shown. The approach is widely used in organic chemistry to convey structural information efficiently.