Consider the following reaction, written with SMILES:
NC1=CC=C(OC2=CC=C(N)C=C2)C=C1>O=C(N3C=CN=C3)N4C=CN=C4>O=C5NC(C=C6)=CC=C6OC7=CC=C(NC(NC8=CC=C(OC9=CC=C(N5)C=C9)C=C8)=O)C=C7
you have to paste it in a SMILES-aware program (e.g., ChemDraw) in order to visualize it.
Is there a more direct way (like pasting an image)?
Well, stereochemistry is important when drawing a structure. Actually SMILES copied from ChemDraw v12 and pasted back, does contain stereochemistry. See for example the SMILES below:
O=C(C)O[C@@H]1[C@@H](COC(C)=O)O[C@@H](OC(C)=O)C1>>O=C(C)O[C@@H]1[C@@H](COC(C)=O)OC(C#N)C1
SMILES also carry the arrow of an equation (the symbol ">>" above) which is useful when trying to describe a reaction.
On the other hand, InChi does not carry stereochemistry succesfully (although it apparently tries to). See the same equation copied as InChI from Chemdraw (There is no arrow either because InChi does not recognize them):
InChI=1S/C11H16O7.C10H13NO5/c1-6(12)15-5-10-9(16-7(2)13)4-11(18-10)17-8(3)14;1-6(12)14-5-10-9(15-7(2)13)3-8(4-11)16-10/h9-11H,4-5H2,1-3H3;8-10H,3,5H2,1-2H3/t9?,10-,11?;8?,9?,10-/m11/s1
SLN does not transfer stereochemistry information or arrows. Although Chemdraw copies structures in SLN, it does not paste SLN. The only program that I found to do that on a Mac is ChemDoodle.
Therefore I would conclude that SMILES is the easiest and more accurate way to communicate chemical information in the absence of a graphics capability that seems to be the case in this social medium.
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