iMolecular Builder +4

This application is loaded with features for constructing and viewing molecules. As the author of a "competing" application, Molecules, I can say that this one has many features that I will most likely never implement in my own program. The carbon nanotube and crystal structure generation alone could make it very interesting to a few classes of users. If you are a chemist, materials scientist, or even student, I think you'll get your money's worth out of this application.

iMole has easily become my favorite applications for a variety of reasons, from the visual glamour to the ability to structure your molecule's bond length to the nearest thousandth (or less even) of an Å. My favorite tool of course is the auto-optimization tool which structures a compound to its best conformation, saving me loads if time (user beware though it doesn't take preferred R and S enantiomers) However I would love to see some instructions for some of the trickier parts of this application, such as crystalline structures, and it ABSOLUTELY needs a guide to downloading molecules off the Internet (for those of us less Internet savvy). I'd also adore other potential features in this application, such as electrostatic potential mapping (if it has it I haven't been able to find it)
Over all though this is a must have for anyone with interest in molecules, or even the acerage organic chem student who want's to save $40 on a molecule building kit for something that gives them so much more!

Very well done app, however, as one other reviewer mentioned, please bring back the optimization functionality as without it this app is next to useless for creating your own molecules. I understand you may have removed it as it was not perfect (optimization algorithms can be complex and tricky and not work in all situations) but something is better than nothing. Especially if you have the basic interactions for the common atoms mostly accurate. (Plus it needs more than one page of help, including for the other build modes such as crystal.)

Additionally, when you enter parameters in places such as CNT builder, please remember them for next time you enter CNT builder. Don't keep going back to the same original default values. I like all my CNT as short (6,0), not long (10,10). And please add an option to build a CNT and add it to the current molecule, rather than replacing it, so we can form more complex molecules by joining CNTs.