Properties and Uses of Aromatic Compounds

The heat of decomposition (238.4 kJ/mol, 3.92 kJ/g) has been calculated to give an adiabatic product temperature of 2150°C accompanied by a 24-fold pressure increase in a closed vessel [9], Dining research into the Friedel-Crafts acylation reaction of aromatic compounds (components unspecified) in nitrobenzene as solvent, it was decided to use nitromethane in place of nitrobenzene because of the lower toxicity of the former. However, because of the lower boiling point of nitromethane (101°C, against 210°C for nitrobenzene), the reactions were run in an autoclave so that the same maximum reaction temperature of 155°C could be used, but at a maximum pressure of 10 bar. The reaction mixture was heated to 150°C and maintained there for 10 minutes, when a rapidly accelerating increase in temperature was noticed, and at 160°C the lid of the autoclave was blown off as decomposition accelerated to explosion [10], Impurities present in the commercial solvent are listed, and a recommended purification procedure is described [11]. The thermal decomposition of nitromethane under supercritical conditions has been studied [12], The effects of very high pressure and of temperature on the physical properties, chemical reactivity and thermal decomposition of nitromethane have been studied, and a mechanism for the bimolecular decomposition (to ammonium formate and water) identified [13], Solid nitromethane apparently has different susceptibility to detonation according to the orientation of the crystal, a theoretical model is advanced [14], Nitromethane actually finds employment as an explosive [15],... 

Aromaticity, defined as a structural feature, was used as a predictive tool for compounds that had not been prepared previously, whereas reactivity, bond length, or magnetic criteria had to await the isolation of a compound and its experimental investigation. Only recently has the development of quantum-chemical methods reached the point where one can predict with sufficient accuracy the magnetic properties, the bond lengths, and the reactivity patterns of aromatics. The multidimensional character and the definition and measurement of aromaticity generated confusion and conflicts.43 A recent review discussed the multidimensional character of aromaticity and theoretical and experimental approaches to aromatic structures and their predictions, and references are indicated extensively.66... 

In his first published paper on the structure of benzene in 1922, Ingold stated his aim to unify aliphatic and aromatic chemistry by studies of ring formation of unsaturated systems. He argued that chemists must accept the Dewar formulation, using a bridged phase of benzene, in order to relate the properties of aromatic compounds to the facts of aliphatic chemistry. 31... 

Studies on the 2PA properties of organic materials have been extended from the early days to a large group of aromatic compounds beyond benzene derivatives. Here, we will focus on a few examples in which studies on series of molecules under the same experimental conditions are available and were used to gain insight into the relationship between the observed properties and the molecular structure of the systems. 

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