Using mhchem with array

Question

I would like to use the array package to format a column filled with chemical formula in order to avoid writing \ce{X} on each line. I don't know if it is even possible. I started from the trick used to hide a column, but didn't get very far. My code is :

\documentclass[12pt,a4paper]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{array}
        \newcolumntype{F}{>{\hbox\bgroup\ce{}}l<{\egroup}@{}}
        \newcolumntype{H}{>{\setbox0=\hbox\bgroup}c<{\egroup}@{}}
        \newcolumntype{N}{>{\raggedright\arraybackslash}p{3cm}}
        \newcolumntype{M}{>{\centering\arraybackslash}p{2cm}}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage[version=3]{mhchem}

\begin{document}

\begin{array}{N F M}
\toprule
Name & Formula & MW\\ 
&& (Da) \\
\midrule
glycol & C2H6O2 & 62.07\\ 
glycerol & C3H8O3 & 92.09\\ 
 & & \\
\bottomrule
\end{array}  

\end{document}

What I am looking for, is a command like \newcolumntype{F}{????} which can format the content of the column as a chemical formula

Answer 1

Your MWE generates an error about array not in math mode, but youwant tabular here.

As the \ce is not in the last column, you can pick up the cell contents with a delimited argument.

\documentclass[12pt,a4paper]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{array}
        \newcolumntype{F}{>{\zzz}l<{\relax}@{}}
        \newcolumntype{H}{>{\setbox0=\hbox\bgroup}c<{\egroup}@{}}
        \newcolumntype{N}{>{\raggedright\arraybackslash}p{3cm}}
        \newcolumntype{M}{>{\centering\arraybackslash}p{2cm}}
\def\zzz#1\relax{\ce{#1}}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage[version=3]{mhchem}

\begin{document}


\begin{tabular}{N F M}
\toprule
Name & Formula & MW\\ 
&& (Da) \\
\midrule
glycol & C2H6O2 & 62.07\\ 
glycerol & C3H8O3 & 92.09\\ 
 & & \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}


\end{document}

Answer 2

You could use the collcell package:

\documentclass[12pt,a4paper]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}

% tabular material:
\usepackage{array,booktabs,collcell}
\newcolumntype{F}{>{\collectcell\ce}l<{\endcollectcell}}

% sciences:
\usepackage[version=4]{mhchem}% version 4 is the current one
\usepackage{siunitx}% provides column type `S' for aligned numbers

\begin{document}

\begin{tabular}{lFS[table-format=2.2]}
  \toprule
    Name & Formula & {MW} \\
    & & {(Da)} \\
  \midrule
    glycol   & C2H6O2 & 62.07 \\ 
    glycerol & C3H8O3 & 92.09 \\ 
  \bottomrule
\end{tabular}

\end{document}

The example above also uses the siunitx package and its column type S for aligned numbers.