Aromatic compounds are those chemical compounds that contain one or more rings with pi electrons delocalized all the way around them. In contrast to compounds that exhibit aromaticity, aliphatic compounds lack this delocalization. The term "aromatic" was assigned before the physical mechanism determining aromaticity was discovered, and referred simply to the fact that many such compounds have a sweet or pleasant odour; however, not all aromatic compounds have a sweet odour, and not all compounds with a sweet odour are aromatic compounds. Aromatic hydrocarbons, or arenes, are aromatic organic compounds containing solely carbon and hydrogen atoms. The configuration of six carbon atoms in aromatic compounds is called a "benzene ring", after the simple aromatic compound benzene, or a phenyl group when part of a larger compound.
In chemistry, a conjugated system is a system of connected p orbitals with delocalized electrons in a molecule, which in general lowers the overall energy of the molecule and increases stability. It is conventionally represented as having alternating single and multiple bonds. Lone pairs, radicals or carbenium ions may be part of the system, which may be cyclic, acyclic, linear or mixed. The term "conjugated" was coined in 1899 by the German chemist Johannes Thiele.
In chemistry, aromaticity is a property of cyclic (ring-shaped), typically planar (flat) structures with pi bonds in resonance that gives increased stability compared to other geometric or connective arrangements with the same set of atoms. Aromatic rings are very stable and do not break apart easily. Organic compounds that are not aromatic are classified as aliphatic compounds—they might be cyclic, but only aromatic rings have enhanced stability.
In chemistry, resonance, also called mesomerism, is a way of describing bonding in certain molecules or ions by the combination of several contributing structures into a resonance hybrid in valence bond theory. It has particular value for describing delocalized electrons within certain molecules or polyatomic ions where the bonding cannot be expressed by one single Lewis structure.
A carbanion is an anion in which carbon is trivalent and bears a formal negative charge.
Unsaturated hydrocarbons are hydrocarbons that have double or triple covalent bonds between adjacent carbon atoms. The term "unsaturated" means more hydrogen atoms may be added to the hydrocarbon to make it saturated. The configuration of an unsaturated carbons include straight chain, such as alkenes and alkynes, as well as branched chains and aromatic compounds.
In chemistry, delocalized electrons are electrons in a molecule, ion or solid metal that are not associated with a single atom or a covalent bond. Term delocalization is general and can have slightly different meanings in different fields. In organic chemistry, this refers to resonance in conjugated systems and aromatic compounds. In solid-state physics, this refers to free electrons that facilitate electrical conduction. In quantum chemistry, this refers to molecular orbital electrons that have extended over several adjacent atoms.
Annulenes are monocyclic hydrocarbons that contain the maximum number of non-cumulated double bonds. They have the general formula CnHn or CnHn+1. The IUPAC naming conventions are that annulenes with 7 or more carbon atoms are named as [n]annulene, where n is the number of carbon atoms in their ring, though sometimes the smaller annulenes are referred to using the same notation, and benzene is sometimes referred to simply as annulene.
In organic chemistry, Hückel's rule pridicts whether a planar ring molecule will have aromatic properties. The quantum mechanical basis for its formulation was first worked out by physical chemist Erich Hückel in 1931. The succinct expression as the 4n + 2 rule has been attributed to W. v. E. Doering (1951), although several authors were using this form at around the same time.
Antiaromaticity is a characteristic of a cyclic molecule with a π electron system that has higher energy due to the presence of 4n delocalised electrons in it. Unlike aromatic compounds, which follow Hückel's rule and are highly stable, antiaromatic compounds are highly unstable and highly reactive. To avoid the instability of antiaromaticity, molecules may change shape, becoming non-planar and therefore breaking some of the π interactions. In contrast to the diamagnetic ring current present in aromatic compounds, antiaromatic compounds have a paramagnetic ring current, which can be observed by NMR spectroscopy.
Borazine, also known as borazole, is a polar inorganic compound with the chemical formula B3H6N3. In this cyclic compound, the three BH units and three NH units alternate. The compound is isoelectronic and isostructural with benzene. For this reason borazine is sometimes referred to as “inorganic benzene”. Like benzene, borazine is a colourless liquid with an aromatic smell.
Cyclodecapentaene or [10]annulene is an annulene with molecular formula C10H10. This organic compound is a conjugated 10 pi electron cyclic system and according to Huckel's rule it should display aromaticity. It is not aromatic, however, because various types of ring strain destabilize an all-planar geometry. The all-cis isomer (1), a fully convex decagon, would have bond angles of 144°, which creates large amounts of angle strain relative to the ideal 120° for sp2 atomic hybridization. Instead, the all-cis isomer can adopt a planar boat-like conformation (2) to relieve the angle strain. This is still unstable because of the relative higher strain in boat shaped compared to the next planar trans, cis, trans, cis, cis isomer (3). Yet even this isomer is also unstable, suffering from steric repulsion between the two internal hydrogen atoms. The nonplanar trans, cis, cis, cis, cis isomer (4) is the most stable of all the possible isomers.
Annulynes or dehydroannulenes are conjugated monocyclic hydrocarbons with alternating single and double bonds in addition to at least one triple bond.
The Hückel method or Hückel molecular orbital theory, proposed by Erich Hückel in 1930, is a very simple linear combination of atomic orbitals molecular orbitals method for the determination of energies of molecular orbitals of π-electrons in π-delocalized molecules, such as ethylene, benzene, butadiene, and pyridine. It is the theoretical basis for Hückel's rule for the aromaticity of π-electron cyclic, planar systems. It was later extended to conjugated molecules such as pyridine, pyrrole and furan that contain atoms other than carbon, known in this context as heteroatoms. A more dramatic extension of the method to include σ-electrons, known as the extended Hückel method (EHM), was developed by Roald Hoffmann. The extended Hückel method gives some degree of quantitative accuracy for organic molecules in general and was used to provide computational justification for the Woodward–Hoffmann rules. To distinguish the original approach from Hoffmann's extension, the Hückel method is also known as the simple Hückel method (SHM). An elementary description of the application of the simple Huckel method to benzene is given in Sections 3.4.3 and 10.2 of a student level text book.
A cyclic compound is a term for a compound in the field of chemistry in which one or more series of atoms in the compound is connected to form a ring. Rings may vary in size from three to many atoms, and include examples where all the atoms are carbon, none of the atoms are carbon, or where both carbon and non-carbon atoms are present. Depending on the ring size, the bond order of the individual links between ring atoms, and their arrangements within the rings, carbocyclic and heterocyclic compounds may be aromatic or non-aromatic; in the latter case, they may vary from being fully saturated to having varying numbers of multiple bonds between the ring atoms. Because of the tremendous diversity allowed, in combination, by the valences of common atoms and their ability to form rings, the number of possible cyclic structures, even of small size numbers in the many billions.
An aromatic ring current is an effect observed in aromatic molecules such as benzene and naphthalene. If a magnetic field is directed perpendicular to the plane of the aromatic system, a ring current is induced in the delocalized π electrons of the aromatic ring. This is a direct consequence of Ampère's law; since the electrons involved are free to circulate, rather than being localized in bonds as they would be in most non-aromatic molecules, they respond much more strongly to the magnetic field.
Homoaromaticity, in organic chemistry, refers to a special case of aromaticity in which conjugation is interrupted by a single sp3 hybridized carbon atom. Although this sp3 center disrupts the continuous overlap of p-orbitals, traditionally thought to be a requirement for aromaticity, considerable thermodynamic stability and many of the spectroscopic, magnetic, and chemical properties associated with aromatic compounds are still observed for such compounds. This formal discontinuity is apparently bridged by p-orbital overlap, maintaining a contiguous cycle of π electrons that is responsible for this preserved chemical stability.
Cyclododecahexaene or [12]annulene is a member of the series of annulenes with some interest in organic chemistry with regard to the study of aromaticity. Cyclododecahexaene is non-aromatic due to the lack of planarity of the structure. On the other hand the dianion with 14 electrons is a Hückel aromat and more stable.
Cyclotetradecaheptaene, often referred to as [14]annulene, is a hydrocarbon with molecular formula C14H14, which played an important role in the development of criteria (Hückel's rule) for aromaticity, a stabilizing property of central importance in physical organic chemistry. It forms dark-red needle-like crystals.
Bicyclo[6.2.0]decapentaene is a bicyclic organic compound and an isomer of naphthalene and azulene.
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![The bond lengths of [18]annulene are around 139 to 141 pm, indicating delocalization and a bond order between 1 and 2. In general, carbon-carbon single bonds and double bonds are 154 pm and 134 pm, respectively, while benzene, with a bond order of 1.5, the bond-length is 140 pm. 18annulene.png](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e1/18annulene.png/330px-18annulene.png)
