Maybe related to a package database update to last versions, I have a collision between the mchem package and other font-related packages such as mathdesign. Whenever I try to use the command \ce{} to insert chemical equations, the following error appears:
! Missing control sequence inserted.
<inserted text>
\inaccessible
l.10 \begin{equation} \ce{2Al+3/2O2->Al2O3}
\end{equation}
Please don't say `\def cs{...}', say `\def\cs{...}'.
I've inserted an inaccessible control sequence so that your
definition will be completed without mixing me up too badly.
You can recover graciously from this error, if you're
careful; see exercise 27.2 in The TeXbook.
The minimun not-working example is the following:
\documentclass[a4paper,11pt]{article}
\usepackage[utopia]{mathdesign}
\usepackage[version=3]{mhchem}
\begin{document}
The following line causes pdfLaTeX to fail:
\begin{equation} \ce{2Al+3/2O2->Al2O3} \end{equation}
\end{document}
I have tried the following:
- Searching mhchem.sty to find
\def cs{: it's not there. - Reading exercise 27.2 of The Texbook: it just says to not omit the backlash and ends telling that you "Explain how to recover from this error..." (it's one of those marked with a curvy road sign, for wizards only").
- Changing the order of package loading.
- Uninstalling and reinstalling
mhchem.
To no avail. Does anyone know about this problem? Is a bug of the mhchem package? and last but not least, can any of you advanced wizards point me in the direction to solve this problem?
Many thanks for reading so far =)
EDIT: I got in touch with Martin Hensel and looks like the problem is indeed in mhchem, he told me that some people reported similar problems and sent me an updated version of the package that did work. I suppose that he will update the repositories soon. =)
PS: Should a mod close this question?
