CHEM 2261 Chapter : Chap06 1
Document Summary
Three alkenes living next door to each other in a 6-membered ring form a really special supersafe community known as a benzene ring. Organic compounds with benzene rings in their structures known as aromatics. Each carbon forms 1. 5 bonds (3 shared electrons) with each of its two neighbor carbons in the ring. The first c-c bond between neighbors is an ordinary sigma (single) bond (2 electrons). This bond is pretty safe from attack by acids like most sigma bonds. The remainder of the c-c bonds between carbon neighbors in the ring community are pi bonds. Their electrons live outside of the space between atoms, and are vulnerable to hhhhattack by predatory acids. To solve this problem benzene"s carbons make a contract: everyone pools their pi electrons and everybody is responsible for the safety of all six of these pi electrons.
