Kekule bonding

In the case of 1,3-butadiene, RAMSES combines the two double bonds to form a single, delocalized r-electron system containing four electrons over all four atoms (Figure 2-50a). The same concept is applied to benzene. As shown in Figure 2-50b, the three double bonds of the Kekule representation form one electron system with six atoms and six electrons. 

T orbital for benzene obtained from spin-coupled valence bond theory. (Figure redrawn from Gerratt ], D L oer, P B Karadakov and M Raimondi 1997. Modem valence bond theory. Chemical Society Reviews 87 100.) figure also shows the two Kekule and three Dewar benzene forms which contribute to the overall wavefunction Kekuleform contributes approximately 40.5% and each Dewar form approximately 6.4%. 

If has long been known that the enthalpy of hydrogenalion of benzene (49.8 kcal moU Conant and Kistiakowsky, 1937) is not the same as three times the enthalpy of hydrogenation of cyclohexene (3 x 28.6 kcal moU ). Evidently, the double bonds that w e write in the Kekule structure of benzene... 

Run benzene using HMO. Write out the full bond order matr ix, enter ing zero for any element off the tridiagonal. What is the bond order of benzene Is there any Kekule-type alternation in this model ... 

One of the cornerstones of the chemistry of carbon compounds (organic chemistry) is Kekule s concept, proposed in 1858, of the tetra-valence of carbon. It was independently proposed in the same year by Couper who, however, got little recognition (vide infra). Kekule realized that carbon can bind at the same time to not more than four other atoms or groups. It can, however, at the same time use one or more of its valences to form bonds to another carbon atom. In this way carbon can form chains or rings, as well as multiple-bonded compounds. 

To what degree Kekule s reeollection was factual we don t know, but Couper and Butlerov independently had developed similar, more well-defined concepts of valenee bonding, whieh may have not been entirely unknown to Kekule. 

Kekule advanced the venturesome notion that the six carbon atoms of benzene were joined together m a ring Four bonds to each carbon could be accommodated by a sys tern of alternating single and double bonds with one hydrogen on each carbon... 

The two substituted carbons are connected by a double bond in one structure but by a single bond in the other Because no such cases of isomerism m benzene derivatives were known and none could be found Kekule suggested that two isomeric structures could exist but mterconverted too rapidly to be separated... 

The two Kekule structures for benzene have the same arrangement of atoms but differ m the placement of electrons Thus they are resonance forms and neither one by Itself correctly describes the bonding m the actual molecule As a hybrid of the two Kekule structures benzene is often represented by a hexagon containing an inscribed circle... 

The circle m a hexagon symbol was first suggested by the British chemist Sir Robert Robinson to represent what he called the aromatic sextet —the six delocalized TT electrons of the three double bonds Robinson s symbol is a convenient time saving shorthand device but Kekule type formulas are better for counting and keeping track of electrons especially m chemical reactions... 

An important property of aromatic hydrocarbons is that they are much more stable and less reactive than other unsaturated compounds Ben zene for example does not react with many of the reagents that react rapidly with alkenes When reaction does take place substitution rather than addition is observed The Kekule formulas for benzene seem mcon sistent with its low reactivity and with the fact that all of the C—C bonds m benzene are the same length (140 pm)... 

Kekule structure (Section 112) Structural formula for an aro matic compound that satisfies the customary rules of bond mg and is usually characterized by a pattern of alternating single and double bonds There are two Kekule formula tions for benzene... 

A single Kekule structure does not completely descnbe the actual bonding in the molecule Ketal (Section 17 8) An acetal denved from a ketone Keto-enol tautomerism (Section 18 4) Process by which an aldehyde or a ketone and its enol equilibrate... 

Ozonation of Aromatics. Aromatic ring unsaturation is attacked much slower than olefinic double bonds, but behaves as if the double bonds in the classical Kekule stmctures really do exist. Thus, benzene yields three moles of glyoxal, which can be oxidized further to glyoxyUc acid and then to oxahc acid. Substituted aromatics give mixtures of aUphatic acids. Ring substituents such as amino, nitro, and sulfonate are cleaved during ozonation. 

Structure. The representation of the benzene molecule has evolved from the Kekule ring formula (1) to the more electronically accurate (2), which iadicates all carbon—carbon bonds are identical. 

Azoles containing a free NH group react comparatively readily with acyl halides. N-Acyl-pyrazoles, -imidazoles, etc. can be prepared by reaction sequences of either type (66) -> (67) or type (70)->(71) or (72). Such reactions have been carried out with benzoyl halides, sulfonyl halides, isocyanates, isothiocyanates and chloroformates. Reactions occur under Schotten-Baumann conditions or in inert solvents. When two isomeric products could result, only the thermodynamically stable one is usually obtained because the acylation reactions are reversible and the products interconvert readily. Thus benzotriazole forms 1-acyl derivatives (99) which preserve the Kekule resonance of the benzene ring and are therefore more stable than the isomeric 2-acyl derivatives. Acylation of pyrazoles also usually gives the more stable isomer as the sole product (66AHCi6)347). The imidazole-catalyzed hydrolysis of esters can be classified as an electrophilic attack on the multiply bonded imidazole nitrogen. 

The meaning of the word aromaticity has evolved as understanding of the special properties of benzene and other aromatic molecules has deepened. Originally, aromaticity was associated with a special chemical reactivity. The aromatic hydrocarbons were considered to be those unsaturated systems that underwent substitution reactions in preference to addition. Later, the idea of special stability became more important. Benzene can be shown to be much lower in enthalpy than predicted by summation of the normal bond energies for the C=C, C—C, and C—H bonds in the Kekule representation of benzene. Aromaticity is now generally associated with this property of special stability of certain completely conjugated cyclic molecules. A major contribution to the stability of aromatic systems results from the delocalization of electrons in these molecules. 

A single Kekule structure does not completely describe the actual bonding in the molecule. 

By the mid-1800s, the new science of chemistry was developing rapidly and chemists had begun to probe the forces holding compounds together. In 1858, August Kekule and Archibald Couper independently proposed that, in all its compounds, carbon is tetravalent—it always forms four bonds when it joins other elements to form stable compounds. Furthermore, said Kekule, carbon atoms can bond to one another to form extended chains of linked atoms. 

Shortly after the tetravalent nature of carbon was proposed, extensions to the Kekule-Couper theory were made w7hen the possibility of multiple bonding between atoms was suggested. Emil Erlenmeyer proposed a carbon-carbon triple bond for acetylene, and Alexander Crum Brown proposed a carbon-carbon double bond for ethylene. In 1865, Kekule provided another major advance when he suggested that carbon chains can double back on themselves to form rings of atoms. 

Although Kekule and Couper were correct in describing the tetravalent nature of carbon, chemistry was still viewed in a two-dimensional way until 1874. In that year, Jacobus van t Hoff and Joseph Le Bel added a third dimension to our ideas about organic compounds when they proposed that the four bonds of carbon are not oriented randomly but have specific spatial directions. Van t Hoff went even further and suggested that the four atoms to... 

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