Aromatic rings annulenes

Something interesting happens when we go beyond benzene to apply the aromatic ring current test to annulenes... 

FIGURE 13 10 More shielded (red) and less shielded (blue) protons in (a) [18]annulene and (b) [16]annulene The induced magnetic field associated with the aromatic ring current in [18]annulene shields the inside protons and deshields the out side protons The opposite occurs in [16]annulene which is antiaromatic... 

NMR data for aza[18]annulene 234 show a wide separation between the centers of the inner and outer proton lH NMR multiplets (Ad =11 ppm), indicative of a strong diamagnetic ring current.270 271 The bis-dehydro system 235 with 22 jr-electrons in the aromatic ring is diatropic.272... 

Finally, the iron compound haem, part of the haemoglobin molecule we use to carry oxygen around in our bloodstream. It contains the aromatic porphyrin ring system with its eighteen elec-trons arranged in annulene style. Chlorophyll, mentioned earlier in this chapter, has a similar aromatic ring system. 

Non-benzoid phanes have always played an important role in cyclophane chemistry and many structures have been prepared with other Hiickel aromatic rings such as azulene or tropone [49]. A cyclophane with two bridged annulene units was recently synthesized by Mitchell [50,51 ]. Dimethyldihydropyrene (76), an excellent NMR probe first introduced by Boekelheide [52], was converted into the dialcohol 77 in three steps. Reaction with adipoyl chloride afforded the large [10.10]cyclophane 78. Unfortunately the conversion of the dialcohol into the corresponding dibromide 79, an obvious precursor to the interesting phane 80, has failed so far. 

---