Molecular Models Using Legos

A Lego brick representing a carbon atom and models of 11 simple compounds containing carbon, nitrogen, or oxygen. 

Abstract

The 8 studs on a 2 × 4 Lego brick conveniently represent the outer shell of electrons for carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen atoms. We used Lego bricks to model these atoms, which are then joined together to form molecules by following the Lewis octet rule. A variety of small biological molecules can be modeled in this way, such as most amino acids, fatty acids, glucose, and various intermediate metabolites. Model building with these familiar toys can be a helpful, hands-on exercise for learning—or re-learning—biochemical pathways. © 2017 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 46(1):54–57, 2018.

Atom color assignments:

• Gray - Carbon
• Blue - Nitrogen
• Red - Oxygen
• White - Hydrogen

Molecules in the above image:

• A - A Lego brick representing a carbon atom (2 × 4). 
• B - Methane (CH4). 
• C - Ammonia (NH3). 
• D - Water (H2O). 
• E - Methanol (CH3OH). 
• F - Formaldehyde (CH2O). 
• G - Formic acid (HCOOH). 
• H - Carbon dioxide (CO2). 
• I - Carbonic acid (H2CO3). 
• J - Carbon monoxide (CO). 
• K - Hydrogen cyanide (HCN). 
• L - Urea (NH2CONH2). 

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