July 1, 2017 (Vol. 37, No. 13)
Rating:
Strong Points: Uses intuitive touch mechanics, good tutorial
Weak Points: Some glitchy settings
Platform:
iPad/iPhone
Cost:
Free
Summary:
Molecule is a nicely designed and easy-to-use app to draw chemical structures from one’s tablet or smart phone. The comprehensive tutorial located under the “help” section of the app walks users through the drawing mechanics, all of which utilize on-screen touch mechanics rather than a keyboard to select the atoms and bonds to be added to the structure. As the structure is built, the molecular weight, monoisotopic mass, chemical formula, and elemental composition is updated and displayed in the upper-left portion of the screen. (In theory, users can opt to turn off these calculations, though the on/off toggle was faulty at the time of this review.) Users can easily undo/redo specific actions, and the final structures can be exported via email or apps like Google Drive or Slack. The drawing projects can also be stored in iCloud.
