Chemistry papers in LaTeX: formulas, schemes, and SI units

Chemists arrive at LaTeX for one of two reasons: a journal demands it, or a collaborator already did. Either way, the pain points are predictable: reaction schemes, isotope labels, and tables of conditions.

Reactions with mhchem

The mhchem package is the default answer for formulas and reactions:

\usepackage[version=4]{mhchem}
\ce{CO2 + C -> 2CO}
\ce{^{14}C}
\ce{H2SO4}

Keep version 4 pinned so syntax does not drift between coauthors. Longer tutorial: chemical formulas.

Structures: chemfig or external drawings

chemfig can draw simple structures in pure TeX. Complex natural products are usually better as ChemDraw or similar exports to PDF, then \includegraphics. Prefer vector PDF over screenshot PNG so bond lines stay sharp in print.

Experimental sections and long tables

Condition tables (temperature, solvent, yield) want booktabs and often siunitx for numeric columns. If a table is longer than a page, switch to longtable before the deadline week, not after the journal complains about font size.

Safety of the draft

Unpublished routes and industrial partners make cloud-only editors a policy question, not only a convenience question. Keeping .tex and figures as ordinary files on disk (with Git) is boring in the good way. Local apps such as Oleafly compile without uploading the manuscript to a third-party editor account.

Cite the right primary literature

Chemistry bibliographies are heavy on journals and patents. Export from Zotero or EndNote into a .bib with stable keys, then validate missing fields before submission: BibTeX validator. Empty bibliographies are almost always a path or backend mistake, not a mystery of the field.