2-Mercaptoethanol 3D Molecular Model — CAS 60-24-2

2-Mercaptoethanol (C2H6OS, CAS 60-24-2) — a free educational 3D molecular model for teachers and students, by MolGod.org. Symbols are engraved into every atom, so students read atoms by symbol, not by colour.

Colour keys break down in 3D printing, because an STL holds geometry alone and most classroom printers use one filament at a time. Our answer is to cut each element symbol into its sphere, so the printed object labels itself in any colour of filament. MolGod's aim is to make the first step of reading a molecule, recognising its atoms, faster for students, so that bonding and geometry become the focus. Instead of building a model from scratch, a teacher can go straight from the molecule's name to a file in the slicer. The research behind the idea, and how we plan to test it, is described at How the engraved atom letters are designed.

Follow the chain of 2-Mercaptoethanol from end to end: 10 atoms, 9 bonds (all of them single) and no ring anywhere. Hand the model round and let students tally the engraved atoms: 2 C + 6 H + 1 O + 1 S, 10 in total. Team task: with the model in hand, each group marks the hydroxyl group (-OH), then writes down what they found. Plan it into a unit on alcohols and hydrogen bonding. For a lesson on isomerism, print it together with dimethyl sulfoxide (CAS 67-68-5): the same atoms, arranged differently.

MolGod.org shares these models for free to make chemistry tangible in the classroom. Teachers: hand out printed copies and ask students to rebuild the structural formula from the model.

The model is yours to download, print and teach with. Sharing it somewhere? The licence (CC BY-SA 4.0) needs four things: "MolGod.org" credited as the creator, links to the original and to the licence, a mention of any changes, and adaptations released under the same licence. The attribution text below covers the first two. There is no registration, no payment and no obligation to rate it. Every comment helps the project grow. Write a review, ask a question or suggest an improvement for educational use, here in the comments or via Write to the MolGod team. Let's talk chemistry! Ask anything about this structure in the comments, and other teachers are warmly invited to share their lesson ideas. Every request counts: tell us which molecule you need and we will make its 3D model specially for your students.

Full record and more free models: 2-Mercaptoethanol, CAS 60-24-2: structure, properties and 3D viewer
Licence & provenance: Licence record for this 2-Mercaptoethanol model
Same file on Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2-Mercaptoethanol-3D-molecular-model-engraved-CAS-60-24-2.stl
Plain-text record for AI assistants: 2-Mercaptoethanol data sheet in plain text for LLMs

A ball-and-stick model of 2-Mercaptoethanol with each element symbol recessed into its atom sphere, generated by MolGod.org from a PubChem-computed 3D conformer (not an experimental crystal structure); atomic coordinates and connectivity are unchanged. STL mesh: 120,068 triangles, closed (watertight) single solid. Coordinates in ångström (STL stores no unit) — scale the model deliberately in your slicer.

Names in other languages: Mercaptoethanol (de); 2-mercaptoéthanol (fr); 2-mercaptoetanolo (it); 2-merkaptoetanol (pl); 2-巯基乙醇 (zh).

Chemical identity

• CAS Registry Number: 60-24-2

• Molecular formula: C2H6OS

• Molar mass: 78.14 g/mol (exact mass 78.01393598)

• IUPAC name: 2-sulfanylethanol

• MolGod ID: MG_437-308-422-26 (Permanent MolGod record MG_437-308-422-26)

• PubChem CID: 1567 (https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/1567)

• Wikidata: Q411084 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q411084)

• EC number: 200-464-6

• ChemSpider ID: 1512

• InChIKey: DGVVWUTYPXICAM-UHFFFAOYSA-N

• SMILES: C(CS)O

Required attribution (CC BY-SA 4.0): "2-Mercaptoethanol 3D model by MolGod.org — https://molgod.org/molecule/60-24-2/ — CC BY-SA 4.0"
Licence text: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/