Chemistry students and professionals have to create their own molecular diagrams for better visualizing the way that various molecules interact.

FlatMol is an OS X utility designed to help you create simple molecule graphs from scratch and to modify them to fit the project you’re working on.

Although it comes with a very crowded interface, the FlatMol app allows you to draw only 2D chemical structures and it cannot be used to design 3D models or convert previously drawn diagrams to 3D.

However, in spite of the fact that its interface is not that eye-catching or following Apple’s OS X Human Interface Guidelines, FlatMol is the app you want if you’re only looking to create simple molecular graphs or you’re a chemistry beginner.

FlatMol can also be used to quickly put together reaction diagrams, explaining in detail what happens when a chemistry reaction takes place. Moreover, if you’ve made any mistakes, FlatMol makes it very simple to go back using its unlimited Undo feature. If you’ve added the wrong atom to your chemical structure, you can effortlessly change it to another element.

What’s more, although FlatMol cannot be used to design complicated molecular structures with rare and atypical bounds, it does manage to do what it was designed perfectly when you’re dealing with your run-of-the-mill molecules.

This is a compromise the developer has made in order to make sure that the application works as it should and that it can help you get your work done on time.

To make it even more useful, FlatMol also comes with a built-in Help which will help you understand how all of the tools available within its interface work.

All things considered, even though FlatMol is not capable of rendering 3D molecules or helping you design overly complicated chemical structures, it is the right tool if you need to deal with simple molecules on a daily basis.