Aromatic compounds thermodynamic stability

Saturated hydrocarbons are stable. Only cycloalkanes with a tight ring are unstable. Alkenes and alkynes have a strong endothermic character, especially the first homologues and polyunsaturated conjugated hydrocarbons. This is also true for aromatic compounds, but this thermodynamic approach does not show up their real stability very well. Apart from a few special cases, the decomposition of unsaturated hydrocarbons requires extreme conditions, which are only encountered in the chemical industry. 

Aromatic compounds have a special place in ground-state chemistry because of their enhanced thermodynamic stability, which is associated with the presence of a closed she of (4n + 2) pi-electrons. The thermal chemistry of benzene and related compounds is dominated by substitution reactions, especially electrophilic substitutions, in which the aromatic system is preserved in the overall process. In the photochemistry of aromatic compounds such thermodynamic factors are of secondary importance the electronically excited state is sufficiently energetic, and sufficiently different in electron distribution and electron donor-acceptor properties, ior pathways to be accessible that lead to products which are not characteristic of ground-state processes. Often these products are thermodynamically unstable (though kinetically stable) with respect to the substrates from which they are formed, or they represent an orientational preference different from the one that predominates thermally. 

Aromaticity has been long recognized as one of the most useful theoretical concepts in organic chemistry. It is essential in understanding the reactivity, structure and many physico-chemical characteristics of heterocyclic compounds. Aromaticity can be defined as a measure of the basic state of cyclic conjugated TT-electron systems, which is manifested in increased thermodynamic stability, planar geometry with non-localized cyclic bonds, and the ability to sustain an induced ring current. In contrast to aromatic compounds there exist nonaromatic and antiaromatic systems. Thus, pyrazine (69)... 

The concept of aromaticity has been extremely fruitful for both theoretical and experimental organic chemists. Aromatic compounds are cyclic unsaturated molecules characterized by certain magnetic effects and by substantially lower chemical reactivity and greater thermodynamic stability than would be expected from localized bond models. 

Methoxy-substituted aromatic compound 4 is lithiated metalation with Buli in THF, a step in which it proves useful to include lithium chloride. Because of the greater basicity of /t-butyllithium relative to 4. direct metallation is in fact possible thermodynamically, but /i-butyllithium is generally present in solution as a tetra-mer, and this reduces its reactivity. Addition of lithium chloride destroys these aggregates, and that eliminates the kinetic inhibition. Lithiated aromatic species 18 is further stabilized through chelate formation between lithium and the orr/icr-methoxy groups (ortho effect).8... 

The relatively low thermodynamic stability of complexes of hemicarcerands or other container-type hosts is a direct consequence of structural aspects of the walls that make up the inner surface of such compounds. These walls are lined by aromatic subunits while free electron pairs of heteroatoms such as those of the ether oxygen atoms are preferentially oriented to the outside. Complexes are therefore enthalpically stabilized only by weak dispersive interactions. In the case of positively charged guests cation-re interactions can contribute to binding enthalpy as in a self-assembled calixarene-derived capsule [9], but directed interactions such as hydrogen-bonding interactions are usually absent. 

The NICS values for pyridine have been compared with other pnictogen derivatives (P, As, Sb, Bi). Reported NICS values for phosphinine 105 vary from -6.4 to -11.4, but the values are consistently negative and large, and consistent with aromatic character . Table 3 compares NICS values for five pnicogen heterobenzenes and on magnetic criteria they are all aromatic. It should be noted, however, that on thermodynamic criteria the aromaticity decreases with stibinine 107 being very unstable and bismuthine 108 unknown <2004JMT (674)125>. NICS values are not, therefore, an indication of the thermodynamic stability associated with aromatic compounds. 

The increased thermodynamic stability of aromatic compounds is the basis of the energy scale. 

Thiiranes derived from aromatic hydrocarbons are thermally labile. For example, phenanthrene episulfide 10 was detected spectrometrically at —55 °C but was too unstable to isolate <2000JOC8083>. It decomposed spontaneously to elemental sulfur even at 0°C, thus restoring the parent aromatic compound (Scheme 10). The relative stability of various arene episulfides has been calculated and in general they are much less thermodynamically stable than the corresponding epoxide <1998T14283>. 

Benzene is the archetypal example of a compound that displays aromatic properties. Aromatic compounds are characterised by a special stability over and above that which would be expected as a result of the delocalisation of the double bonds in a linear system. Typically, this extra stability is associated with the closed loop of six electrons, the aromatic sextet, as occurs in benzene itself. However, larger and smaller loops are possible. So long as there are (4n+2)7i electrons (where n is an integer from zero, upwards) present in (at least three) adjacent p sub-orbitals that form a closed circuit, then the resultant molecule will be aromatic. It is also possible for heteroatoms to form part of the cyclic structure, and for the structure to be charged. Furthermore, aromatic compounds, in contrast to unsaturated compounds, tend to undergo substitution reactions more readily than addition reactions. This is because it is usually thermodynamically favourable to preserve the aromatic stability rather than release the energy contained in the double bonds. 

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