Aromatic compounds

From Learn Chemistry Wiki

Aromatic compounds are characterised by a ring system containing a fully delocalised set of pi-electrons, in an arrangement that satisfies Huckel's Rule.

Some common aromatic compounds

Many common aromatics are based on benzene, and some of these are shown below. Note that the terms ortho, meta and para are general terms used to show the relative position of two substituents on a benzene ring.

Some common aromatic compounds

Structure
Common name	Benzene	Toluene	ortho-Xylene	meta-Xylene	para-Xylene	Styrene
IUPAC name	Benzene	Toluene	1,2-Dimethylbenzene	1,3-Dimethylbenzene	1,4-Dimethylbenzene	Styrene
Structure
Common name	Phenol	Aniline	Benzaldehyde	Benzoic acid	A phenyl group	A benzyl group
IUPAC name	Phenol	Aniline	Benzaldehyde	Benzoic acid

Reactions of aromatic compounds

The reaction map below shows some typical reactions of benzene-type aromatic compounds. The most common reactions involve electrophilic aromatic substitution and nucleophilic substitutions on diazonium salts.