diff --git a/External/pubchem_shape/CMakeLists.txt b/External/pubchem_shape/CMakeLists.txt
index a0f16eadb..4de07a088 100644
--- a/External/pubchem_shape/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/External/pubchem_shape/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -33,8 +33,14 @@ if(needDownload)
   execute_process(COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E rename ${tar_dirname}
        ${PUBCHEMSHAPE_DIR}
        WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
+
 endif()
 
+# simple patch for a typo in the pubchem_align library
+file(READ ${PUBCHEMSHAPE_DIR}/shape_neighbor.cpp FILE_CONTENTS)
+string(REPLACE "memcpy( qom, old_quattrans, 7 * sizeof( float ) );" "memcpy( qom, old_quattrans, 7 * sizeof( double ) );" FILE_CONTENTS "${FILE_CONTENTS}")
+file(WRITE ${PUBCHEMSHAPE_DIR}/shape_neighbor.cpp "${FILE_CONTENTS}")
+
 rdkit_library(pubchem_align3d ./pubchem-align3d/shape_functions1.cpp
             ./pubchem-align3d/shape_functions2.cpp ./pubchem-align3d/shape_neighbor.cpp SHARED)
 if((MSVC AND RDK_INSTALL_DLLS_MSVC) OR ((NOT MSVC) AND WIN32))