Spartan is a molecular modeling and computational chemistry software developed by Wavefunction, Inc., used to predict the structures, properties, and reactivity of molecules.

Spartan'24

Platforms

Windows Mac Linux

 Spartan is a computational chemistry program from Wavefunction that is widely used in academia for instructional and research purposes across various disciplines. Spartan has the best graphical user interface for the “building” of molecular structures, including complex biomolecules and weakly bound aggregates, and greatly simplifies the setup, execution, and analysis of calculations. Spartan implements a wide variety of modern computational methods, including semi-empirical, Hartree-Fock, and DFT methods, for ground and excited state species as well as transition states. All methods beyond molecular mechanics and semi-empirical utilize the latest Q-Chem computational engines.

It can utilize multiple cores (up to 16 cores, but please inquire if you require more). It also incorporates extremely powerful visualization tools to represent molecular orbitals, vibrational modes, electrostatic potentials, and calculated spectra and energy levels. Spartan is also compatible with a number of other common file formats in computational chemistry (e.g. .cif, .smi, .mol, .mol2). For example, Spartan can directly download PDB files from the RCSB Protein Data Bank. Due to its widespread adoption, numerous texts and workbooks are available that include example calculations, some of which can be accessed directly from Wavefunction. The program also includes an Activities menu with Tutorials and Topics that provide further information, and the built-in user manual has many other useful exercises.

Get Access 

Faculty, staff, and students at UC San Diego can easily download Spartan and run it on their computers. Just connect to the campus network directly or through the UCSD VPN service for seamless access. 

Please see the Spartan installation steps here.

Please see this page for a tutorial on how to use Spartan.

For all Software Licensing questions, please go to the ITS Service Desk.