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Polycyclic and non-benzenoid aromatics

20 articles

Alternant hydrocarbon

An alternant hydrocarbon is a conjugated hydrocarbon containing no odd-membered rings, so its carbon atoms split into two alternating sets; naphthalene is one, while azulene is nonalternant.

Anthracene

Anthracene is a tricyclic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, C₁₄H₁₀, of three linearly fused benzene rings, a colorless solid with blue fluorescence first isolated from coal tar in 1832.

Azulene

Azulene is a blue, non-benzenoid aromatic hydrocarbon, C₁₀H₈, an isomer of naphthalene with fused seven- and five-membered rings, named in 1863 for its azure color.

Chrysene

Chrysene, also known as benzo[a]phenanthrene, is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon with formula C18H12, consisting of four fused benzene rings in an angular arrangement; the IARC classifies it as possibly carcinogenic to humans.

Clar's rule

Clar's rule, or the aromatic π-sextet rule, states that the Kekulé structure of a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon with the most disjoint aromatic sextets dominates its properties.

Corannulene

Corannulene is a bowl-shaped polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (C20H10), the smallest curved fragment of the C60 fullerene and the prototypical buckybowl, first synthesized at the University of Michigan in 1966.

Cyclooctadecanonaene

Cyclooctadecanonaene, commonly called [18]annulene, is an aromatic hydrocarbon with formula C₁₈H₁₈, an eighteen-membered ring of nine conjugated double bonds first synthesized by Franz Sondheimer's group in 1959.

Cyclooctatetraene

Cyclooctatetraene, also called [8]annulene or COT, is a nonaromatic cyclic hydrocarbon, C₈H₈, whose tub-shaped ring avoids antiaromaticity; its aromatic dianion is a key organometallic ligand.

Cyclophane

A cyclophane is a bridged aromatic compound in which aromatic rings are held within a larger ring by aliphatic bridges; the best-studied member is [2.2]paracyclophane, discovered in 1949.

Helicene

Helicene is an ortho-fused polycyclic aromatic or heteroaromatic compound whose angularly arranged rings form a helix, making it chiral; hexahelicene is the prototype, and applications include enantioselective catalysis and spintronics.

Hückel method

The Hückel method, or Hückel molecular orbital theory, is a simplified semiempirical quantum-chemical method devised by Erich Hückel that computes π-electron orbitals of conjugated hydrocarbons.

Kekulene

Kekulene is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, C₄₈H₂₄, in which twelve benzene rings are fused in a circular arrangement around a central cavity, making it the first and prototypical cycloarene.

Pentacene

Pentacene is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon of five linearly fused benzene rings, a benchmark p-type organic semiconductor used in field-effect transistors and singlet fission solar cells, discovered in 1912.

Perylene

Perylene, also known as peri-dinaphthalene, is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, C20H12, with five fused rings, used as a fluorescent probe and the basis of perylene diimide pigments and organic electronic materials.

Phenacene

Phenacene is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon whose benzene rings fuse in a zigzag, phenanthrene-like pattern, including phenanthrene, chrysene, and picene; more stable than linear acenes, phenacenes serve as organic semiconductors in transistors.

Picene

Picene is an ortho-fused polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon with five benzene rings in an armchair-edge arrangement, C22H14, that superconducts when doped with potassium, reaching 18 K in 2010.

Pyrene

Pyrene is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, C₁₆H₁₀, made of four fused benzene rings, a colorless crystalline solid with blue fluorescence found in combustion products and used widely as a fluorescent probe.

Sumanene

Sumanene is a bowl-shaped polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, C21H12, first synthesized in 2003 from norbornadiene; its deeper bowl and three benzylic positions make it a platform for chiral curved aromatics and metal-ion receptors.

Tropone

Tropone (cyclohepta-2,4,6-trien-1-one, C₇H₆O) is a non-benzenoid aromatic compound with a seven-membered ring bearing a ketone, the parent of the troponoids and a reactive synthon in synthesis.

Tropylium cation

The tropylium cation, also called the cycloheptatrienyl cation, is an aromatic C7H7+ carbocation with a planar seven-membered ring and delocalized positive charge, discovered as tropylium bromide in 1891.