An aromatic hydrocarbon or arene is a hydrocarbon with sigma bonds and delocalized pi electrons between carbon atoms forming a circle. In contrast, aliphatic hydrocarbons lack this delocalization. The term "aromatic" was assigned before the physical mechanism determining aromaticity was discovered; the term was coined as such simply because many of the compounds have a sweet or pleasant odour. The configuration of six carbon atoms in aromatic compounds is known as a benzene ring, after the simplest possible such hydrocarbon, benzene. Aromatic hydrocarbons can be monocyclic (MAH) or polycyclic (PAH).
In organic chemistry, hydrocarbons are divided into two classes: aromatic compounds and aliphatic compounds, also known as non-aromatic compounds. Aliphatics can be cyclic, but only aromatic compounds contain an especially stable ring of atoms, such as benzene. Aliphatic compounds can be saturated, like hexane, or unsaturated, like hexene and hexyne. Open-chain compounds contain no rings of any type, and are thus aliphatic.
In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons from which one hydrogen atom has been removed are functional groups called hydrocarbyls. Because carbon has 4 electrons in its outermost shell carbon has exactly four bonds to make, and is only stable if all 4 of these bonds are used.
Toluene, also known as toluol, is an aromatic hydrocarbon. It is a colorless, water-insoluble liquid with the smell associated with paint thinners. It is a mono-substituted benzene derivative, consisting of a CH3 group attached to a phenyl group. As such, its IUPAC systematic name is methylbenzene. Toluene is predominantly used as an industrial feedstock and a solvent.
Petrochemicals are chemical products derived from petroleum. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable sources such as corn, palm fruit or sugar cane.
In organic chemistry, the term aromaticity is used to describe a cyclic (ring-shaped), planar (flat) molecule with a ring of resonance bonds that exhibits more stability than other geometric or connective arrangements with the same set of atoms. Aromatic molecules are very stable, and do not break apart easily to react with other substances. Organic compounds that are not aromatic are classified as aliphatic compounds—they might be cyclic, but only aromatic rings have special stability.
In the context of organic molecules, aryl is any functional group or substituent derived from an aromatic ring, usually an aromatic hydrocarbon, such as phenyl and naphthyl. "Aryl" is used for the sake of abbreviation or generalization, and "Ar" is used as a placeholder for the aryl group in chemical structure diagrams.
Cyclohexane is a cycloalkane with the molecular formula C6H12. Cyclohexane is a colourless, flammable liquid with a distinctive detergent-like odor, reminiscent of cleaning products (in which it is sometimes used). Cyclohexane is mainly used for the industrial production of adipic acid and caprolactam, which are precursors to nylon.
Annulenes are completely conjugated monocyclic hydrocarbons. 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.
Petroleum ether is the petroleum fraction consisting of aliphatic hydrocarbons and boiling in the range 35‒60 °C; commonly used as a laboratory solvent. Despite the name, petroleum ether is not classified as an ether; the term is used only figuratively, signifying extreme lightness and volatility.
Catalytic reforming is a chemical process used to convert petroleum refinery naphthas distilled from crude oil into high-octane liquid products called reformates, which are premium blending stocks for high-octane gasoline. The process converts low-octane linear hydrocarbons (paraffins) into branched alkanes (isoparaffins) and cyclic naphthenes, which are then partially dehydrogenated to produce high-octane aromatic hydrocarbons. The dehydrogenation also produces significant amounts of byproduct hydrogen gas, which is fed into other refinery processes such as hydrocracking. A side reaction is hydrogenolysis, which produces light hydrocarbons of lower value, such as methane, ethane, propane and butanes.
In chemistry, the organic compound triphenylene is a flat polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) consisting of four fused benzene rings. Triphenylene can be isolated from coal tar. It is also made synthetically by synthesis and trimerization of benzyne. One molecule of triphenylene has delocalized 18-π-electron systems based on a planar structure. It has the molecular formula C
18H
12.
Prismane or 'Ladenburg benzene' is a polycyclic hydrocarbon with the formula C6H6. It is an isomer of benzene, specifically a valence isomer. Prismane is far less stable than benzene. The carbon (and hydrogen) atoms of the prismane molecule are arranged in the shape of a six-atom triangular prism—this compound is the parent and simplest member of the prismanes class of molecules. Albert Ladenburg proposed this structure for the compound now known as benzene. The compound was not synthesized until 1973.
Hydrocarbon mixtures are a group of various volatile, highly flammable, mixtures used chiefly as nonpolar solvents.
Petroleum naphtha is an intermediate hydrocarbon liquid stream derived from the refining of crude oil with CAS-no 64742-48-9. It is most usually desulfurized and then catalytically reformed, which rearranges or restructures the hydrocarbon molecules in the naphtha as well as breaking some of the molecules into smaller molecules to produce a high-octane component of gasoline.
In the petroleum refining and petrochemical industries, the initialism BTX refers to mixtures of benzene, toluene, and the three xylene isomers, all of which are aromatic hydrocarbons. The xylene isomers are distinguished by the designations ortho –, meta –, and para – as indicated in the adjacent diagram. If ethylbenzene is included, the mixture is sometimes referred to as BTEX.
Benz[e]acephenanthrylene is an organic compound with the chemical formula C20H12. It is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) made of four benzene rings around a 5-membered ring.
Petroleum benzine is a hydrocarbon-based solvent mixture that is classified by its physical properties rather than a specific chemical composition, often obfuscating distinction within the long list of petroleum distillate solvent mixtures: mineral spirits, naphtha, white spirits, petroleum spirits, turps substitute, mineral turpentine, petroleum benzine, petroleum ether, ligroin, and Stoddard Solvent.
Butalene is a polycyclic hydrocarbon composed of two fused cyclobutadiene rings. A reported possible synthesis of it involves an elimination reaction from a Dewar benzene derivative. The structure itself can be envisioned as benzene with an internal bridge, and calculations indicate it is somewhat less stable than the open 1,4-didehydrobenzene biradical, the valence isomer in which that bridged bond is broken.
