Symmetry and shape are key to understanding molecular structures and their properties. Traditional pictorial representations of molecules often lose some details, and numerical methods, while informative, can be unengaging. Often, relationships between chemical structure and derived values are obscured.

Inspired by the art of Piet Mondrian (1872–1944), Christopher J. Kingsbury and Mathias O. Senge, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, and Technical University of Munich, Garching, Germany, have developed a way to represent molecular symmetry using blocks of color, making it easier to see how molecular distortions affect symmetry. This artistic approach, which they call the “Mondrian graph,” offers a new perspective on familiar molecules such as porphyrins and, they believe, improves our understanding of their shape and properties.

They developed a computer program that translates the symmetries and symmetry breaks of molecules into color fields. The starting point is data from X-ray crystallography. The researchers plot numerical values on a graph where symmetry breaks within and outside the plane are represented as axes on a logarithmic scale. The point groups of the molecule are shown by large colored areas, divided by indicators of the respective symmetrical distortions. The colored area at the top right represents the basic symmetry of the molecule.

The two chemists tested how the resulting Mondrian pictures would look on a variety of different porphyrin molecules. They say that complex science can be viewed through the lens of art, making it more accessible. We can see familiar molecules like porphyrins in a new light and better understand how their shape and properties interact. The team has made their program available on the Internet for free use.

• Molecular Symmetry and Art: Visualizing the Near-Symmetry of Molecules in Piet Mondrian’s De Stijl,
  Christopher J. Kingsbury, Mathias O. Senge,
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2024.
  https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202403754