SYNAPSE, Professional Edition v3.0 - Chemical Product Design Software

Synapse's 3.0 release contains new graphing, reporting, and bookmarking capabilities as well as numerous productivity improvements. View the sections below for listings of new capabilities and bug fixes.

Installation or Upgrade Procedure:

  • Installation: If you have a license for Synapse 3.0, you will only need to download the new version's installation program. Click here for instructions.
  • Major Upgrade: If your license is for Synapse 2.4 or earlier, you must perform a major upgrade. You will need to pay an upgrade fee, update your license key, and then download and install the new version. Click here for instructions.
Version 3.0 Highlights: Released April 2021
New Capability: Use 'inline constraints' for designs and selections

You can now use 'inline' constraints for Synapse's designs and selections. These constraints use 'inline functions' which mean you no longer have to define a separate function. Some examples of inline functions are:

  1. f("Surface Tension, Liquid - f(T)", 293.15, 0)
  2. f("Vapor Pressure, Liquid - f(T)", 293.15, 0)
  3. f("Viscosity, Liquid - f(T)", 293.15, 0)
  4. f("Density, Liquid - f(T)", 293.15, 0)
  5. f("Flash Point, Closed Cup", 0, 0)

The first constraint denotes the candidate's liquid surface tension at 293.15K while the last constraints denotes the candidate's close cup flash point.

Inline constraints greatly simply specifying designs and selections. However, you can still use Function entities to specify functions more complex constraints.

Bug Fix: Graphical Designs operate more effeciently
Several bugs were corrected in the operation of both the Graphical Chemical Design and Graphical Mixture Design dialogs. These bugs were assciated with constraint evaluation in either manual or automatic modes. Both design dialogs now operate more smoothly and much faster.
Change: Source knowledge bases are now managed automatically
Editing designs and selections often required you to have their source knowledge open. This was an inconvenience that often interrupted work flow. Synapse now automatically opens and closes source knowledge bases as needed.
Change: XY data and graphs are now combined into one chapter

XY graph data sets and graphs are now combined into a single new XY Graphs Chapter. This greatly streamlines the task of graph creation and enables Cranium and Synapse to automatically generate XY graphs.

See the documentation to understand how to transfer data from the old xy graph documents into the new xy graph entity.

Change: Triangular graphs have an enhanced appearance
Triangular graph data sets and graphs are now combined into a single new Triangular Graphs Chapter. This greatly streamlines the task of graph creation. In addition, triangular graphs are now drawn using the traditional 'equilateral triangle' format. See the documentation to understand how to transfer data from the old triangular graph documents into the new triangular graph entity.
New Capability: Function logging can now be turned on to help us debug problems
To assist us in quickly correcting difficult to diagnose bugs, Synapse now includes a function logging capability. (Click here for documentation.) These log files help us to rapidly identify the particular functions which are causing problems.
New Capability: Report Pages Edit dialog now provides more editing capabilities
The Report Pages Edit Dialog can now be used to edit the pages of a report document. Report sections can be added, deleted, rearranged, and edited.
New Capability: MKS JSON added as a knowledge base export format
You can now used the JSON Export Dialog to export data and estimates into JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) formatted files. JSON is a powerful, human-readable data-interchange format used by many web-based applications.
New Capability: Menu option now available to allow/disallow duplicate bookmarks
An option has been added to the Bookmarks menu to allow or disallow duplicate bookmarks. (Click here for documentation.) This capability makes it easier to create bookmarks of chemicals for use in designs, selections, or further analyses.
Bug Fix: Curve points can now be entered for phase equilibrium properties
Curve points can now be entered for all phase equilibrium properties. (See here for documentation on the Phase Equilibria Section.) This is a very useful capability for highlighting tie lines and groups of values at different temperatures and presssures.
Change: Export capabilities are updated and externally verified.

The accuracy of export files written in third-party software formats has been verified by external reviewers. See documenation for:

New Capability: Physical property values from additional file types can be imported
Physical property values from Aspen input files and DIPPR database files can now be imported into knowledge bases. See documenation for the Aspen Import Dialog and the DIPPR Import Dialog.
New Capability: Recently cited references are now easily accessible
Recently cited references can now be easily accessed from a dropdown menu attached to each reference control. This accelerates the task of adding a reference to each datum (which is highly recommended).