Back to TABLE OF CONTENTS
    Return to Colors and Color Schemes
        Go to another Color Table:     Predefined     Amino/Shapely     CPK


CPK Colors

The RasMol cpk color scheme colors 'atom' objects by the atom (element) type.
Element Color Name RGB Values Hexadecimal
Carbon light grey [200,200,200] C8C8C8
Oxygen red [240,0,0] F00000
Hydrogen white [255,255,255] FFFFFF
Nitrogen light blue [143,143,255] 8F8FFF
Sulfur yellow [255,200,50] FFC832
Phosphorus orange [255,165,0] FFA500
Chlorine green [0,255,0] 00FF00
Bromine, Zinc brown [165,42,42] A52A2A
Sodium blue [0,0,255] 0000FF
Iron orange [255,165,0] FFA500
Magnesium dark green [42,128,42] 2A802A
Calcium dark grey [128,128,128] 808090
Unknown deep pink [255,20,147] FF1493

The black background in the Element and Color Name columns corresponds to the "standard" background color in RasMol. Note that the rendering of the hexadecimal-equivalent colors shown here will depend on your browser, monitor type and settings, etc. Thus, they only approximate how RasMol will render the RGB colors on your computer.
Except for green, white, blue, and orange, these color names are not the ones specified as "Predefined Colors" in RasMol; thus, they can only be specified on the command line as RGB triplets.
In addition to the twelve elements listed above, RasMol colors many of the other elements in a distinctive way. The complete RasMol CPK coloring scheme can be viewed using the Chime plug-in to display a portion of the Periodic Table of Elements.

For X-ray crystallographic models of proteins and nucleic acids (i.e. without hydrogens) the display can be 'brightened' by converting the O, C, and N atoms from the RasMol default cpk colors to "true red, white and blue" using RasMol's predefined color scheme. Use the following script, "usa.col", or sequence of commands to try it:

     select all
     select oxygen
     color red
     select carbon
     color white
     select nitrogen
     color blue
     select all

Extension of this idea to other atoms and color schemes is straightforward.

Back to TABLE OF CONTENTS
    Return to Colors and Color Schemes
        Go to another Color Table:     Predefined     Amino/Shapely     CPK