In chemistry, aromaticity is a property of cyclic (ring-shaped), 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.
A polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) is a hydrocarbon—a chemical compound containing only carbon and hydrogen—that is composed of multiple aromatic rings. The group is a major subset of the aromatic hydrocarbons. The simplest of such chemicals are naphthalene, having two aromatic rings, and the three-ring compounds anthracene and phenanthrene. The terms polyaromatic hydrocarbon or polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon are also used for this concept.
Annulenes are monocyclic hydrocarbons that contain the maximum number of non-cumulated double bonds ('mancude'). 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 estimates 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.
A silabenzene is a heteroaromatic compound containing one or more silicon atoms instead of carbon atoms in benzene. A single substitution gives silabenzene proper; additional substitutions give a disilabenzene, trisilabenzene, etc.
1,3,5,7-Cyclooctatetraene (COT) is an unsaturated derivative of cyclooctane, with the formula C8H8. It is also known as [8]annulene. This polyunsaturated hydrocarbon is a colorless to light yellow flammable liquid at room temperature. Because of its stoichiometric relationship to benzene, COT has been the subject of much research and some controversy.
A cyclophane is a hydrocarbon consisting of an aromatic unit and an aliphatic chain that forms a bridge between two non-adjacent positions of the aromatic ring. More complex derivatives with multiple aromatic units and bridges forming cagelike structures are also known. Cyclophanes are well-studied in organic chemistry because they adopt unusual chemical conformations due to build-up of strain.
In chemistry, pi stacking refers to attractive, noncovalent interactions between aromatic rings, since they contain pi bonds. These interactions are important in nucleobase stacking within DNA and RNA molecules, protein folding, template-directed synthesis, materials science, and molecular recognition, although some research suggests that pi stacking may not be operative in some of these applications. Despite intense experimental and theoretical interest, there is no unified description of the factors that contribute to pi stacking interactions.
Ronald Charles D. Breslow was an American chemist from Rahway, New Jersey. He was University Professor at Columbia University, where he was based in the Department of Chemistry and affiliated with the Departments of Biological Sciences and Pharmacology; he had also been on the faculty of its Department of Chemical Engineering. He had taught at Columbia since 1956 and was a former chair of the university's chemistry department.
[n]Radialenes are alicyclic organic compounds containing n cross-conjugated exocyclic double bonds. The double bonds are commonly alkene groups but those with a carbonyl (C=O) group are also called radialenes. For some members the unsubstituted parent radialenes are elusive but many substituted derivatives are known.
In organic chemistry, Möbius aromaticity is a special type of aromaticity believed to exist in a number of organic molecules. In terms of molecular orbital theory these compounds have in common a monocyclic array of molecular orbitals in which there is an odd number of out-of-phase overlaps, the opposite pattern compared to the aromatic character to Hückel systems. The nodal plane of the orbitals, viewed as a ribbon, is a Möbius strip, rather than a cylinder, hence the name. The pattern of orbital energies is given by a rotated Frost circle (with the edge of the polygon on the bottom instead of a vertex), so systems with 4n electrons are aromatic, while those with 4n + 2 electrons are anti-aromatic/non-aromatic. Due to incrementally twisted nature of the orbitals of a Möbius aromatic system, stable Möbius aromatic molecules need to contain at least 8 electrons, although 4 electron Möbius aromatic transition states are well known in the context of the Dewar-Zimmerman framework for pericyclic reactions. Möbius molecular systems were considered in 1964 by Edgar Heilbronner by application of the Hückel method, but the first such isolable compound was not synthesized until 2003 by the group of Rainer Herges. However, the fleeting trans-C9H9+ cation, one conformation of which is shown on the right, was proposed to be a Möbius aromatic reactive intermediate in 1998 based on computational and experimental evidence.
In chemistry, inherent chirality is a property of asymmetry in molecules arising, not from a stereogenic or chiral center, but from a twisting of the molecule in 3-D space. The term was first coined by Volker Boehmer in a 1994 review, to describe the chirality of calixarenes arising from their non-planar structure in 3-D space.
Benzo[c]phenanthrene is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon with the chemical formula C18H12. It is a white solid that is soluble in nonpolar organic solvents. It is a nonplanar molecule consisting of the fusion of four fused benzene rings. The compound is of mainly theoretical interest but it is environmentally occurring and weakly carcinogenic.
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.
Cyclononatetraene is an organic compound with the formula C9H10. It was first prepared in 1969 by protonation of the corresponding aromatic anion (described below). It is unstable and isomerizes with a half-life of 50 min at room temperature to 3a,7a-dihydro-1H-indene via a thermal 6π disrotatory electrocyclic ring closing. Upon exposure to ultraviolet light, it undergoes a photochemical 8π electrocyclic ring closing to give bicyclo[6.1.0]nona-2,4,6-triene.
Neptunocene, Np(C8H8)2, is an organoneptunium compound composed of a neptunium atom sandwiched between two cyclooctatetraenide (COT2-) rings. As a solid it has a dark brown/red colour but it appears yellow when dissolved in chlorocarbons, in which it is sparingly soluble. The compound is quite air-sensitive.
Contorted aromatics or more precisely contorted polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in which the fused aromatic molecules deviate from the usual planarity.
Gregory H. Robinson is an American synthetic inorganic chemist and a Foundation Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of Georgia. Robinson's research focuses on unusual bonding motifs and low oxidation state chemistry of molecules containing main group elements such as boron, gallium, germanium, phosphorus, magnesium, and silicon. He has published over 150 research articles, and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2021.
