Dopamine 3D Molecular Model — CAS 51-61-6

Dopamine (C8H11NO2, CAS 51-61-6) — a free educational 3D molecular model for teachers and students, by MolGod.org. Every atom carries its engraved element symbol, so no colour key is needed.

Teachers who print molecules quickly meet the same gap: the file defines spheres and sticks, but not which element each sphere stands for. Each atom of a MolGod model is engraved with its element symbol, turning a plain print into a self-explaining teaching object. Our goal is to let students understand on their own how the atoms are arranged, how they are bonded and what the 3D geometry looks like, straight from the model in their hands. No CAD skills are needed on the teacher's side; the structure, geometry and labels come ready in one file. More about the hypothesis we are testing with these models: How the engraved atom letters are designed.

Let the group sketch what they see in Dopamine, namely one aromatic 6-membered ring; afterwards they compare the sketch with the 22 bonds on the model (16 single and 6 aromatic, drawn in Kekulé form). A five-minute warm-up: read the symbol on every sphere and write down the totals (8 C + 11 H + 1 N + 2 O = 22 atoms). This molecule gives students these functional groups to identify: two phenolic hydroxyl groups (Ar-OH) and primary amino group (-NH2). A good fit for lessons on aromaticity and delocalised electrons, on phenols and hydrogen bonding, as well as on amines and basicity. Want a comparison? The most similar structures in the MolGod.org collection are Norepinephrine (CAS 51-41-2) and 3,4-Dihydroxybenzaldehyde (CAS 139-85-5).

MolGod.org builds and releases these models at no cost for chemistry teaching. Teachers: hand out printed copies and ask students to rebuild the structural formula from the model.

This printable molecule is free to use in lessons, clubs and workshops. Publishing pictures, materials or remixes of it? Under CC BY-SA 4.0, name "MolGod.org" as the author, link back to the original and to the licence, mark your changes and keep remixes under the same terms. A ready-made attribution is included below. You don't need an account, you don't pay anything, and a review is entirely up to you. Your comments decide what we improve next, from engraving depth to which molecules we add. Leave a review below or contact us at Write to the MolGod team. Have an idea for a lesson built around this molecule? Share it in the comments so other teachers can use it too. All we need is a CAS number: from it MolGod generates the 3D structure, engraves every atom and prepares the STL.

Full record and more free models: Dopamine, CAS 51-61-6: structure, properties and 3D viewer
Licence & provenance: Licence record for this Dopamine model
Same file on Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dopamine-3D-molecular-model-engraved-CAS-51-61-6.stl
Plain-text record for AI assistants: Dopamine data sheet in plain text for LLMs
Also published on: NIH 3D https://3d.nih.gov/entries/3DPX-023822 · Zenodo (DOI, latest version) https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23718851

A ball-and-stick model of Dopamine 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: 273,832 triangles, closed (watertight) single solid. Coordinates in ångström (STL stores no unit) — scale the model deliberately in your slicer.

Names in other languages: Dopamin (de); dopamina (it); 多巴胺 (zh).

Chemical identity

• CAS Registry Number: 51-61-6

• Molecular formula: C8H11NO2

• Molar mass: 153.18 g/mol (exact mass 153.078978594)

• IUPAC name: 4-(2-aminoethyl)benzene-1,2-diol

• MolGod ID: MG_923-625-123-54 (Permanent MolGod record MG_923-625-123-54)

• PubChem CID: 681 (https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/681)

• Wikidata: Q170304 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q170304)

• EC number: 200-110-0

• ChemSpider ID: 661

• InChIKey: VYFYYTLLBUKUHU-UHFFFAOYSA-N

• SMILES: C1=CC(=C(C=C1CCN)O)O

Required attribution (CC BY-SA 4.0): "Dopamine 3D model by MolGod.org — https://molgod.org/molecule/51-61-6/ — CC BY-SA 4.0"
Licence text: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/