Creating Complex Atom Selections

As well as using predefined atom sets, you can create and apply your own complex selections in the Atom Selection Dialog Box. The Atom Selection Dialog Box allows you to select atoms based on conditions that are applied to the properties of atoms, residues, molecules, chains, entries, substructures defined by Maestro substructure notation or by SMARTS, or predefined named sets. You can extend the selection by proximity, either in terms of distance or number of bonds. You can combine multiple atom selections by adding, subtracting, inverting, or intersecting the atom sets. For further information, including how to open this dialog box, see the help topic, Atom Selection Dialog Box. Atom sets are defined by the Atom Specification Language, or ASL for short— see Atom Specification Language for more information.

If you have already defined an atom set using the Atom Selection Dialog Box and want to re-use it, click on the Selection toolbar, or click in the picking tools section of a panel, then click Previous ASL.