Why is benzene an aromatic hydrocarbon?

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Answer 1 · 2015-02-09T20:00:52

Benzene is an aromatic hydrocarbon because it obeys Hückel's rule.

Originally, benzene was considered aromatic because of its smell: it has an "aromatic" odor.

It is now considered aromatic because it obeys Hückel's rule:

$4n + 2$ = number of π electrons in the hydrocarbon, where $n$ must be an integer.

In the case of benzene, we have 3 π bonds (6 electrons), so $4n + 2 = 6$ .

$n = 1$ (an integer). So, benzene is aromatic.

Another example is naphthalene, with two fused benzene rings.

![Fused benzene rings from http://www.pherobase.com.](http://www.pherobase.com/pherobase/gif/naphthalene.GIF)

It has 5 π bonds and 10 electrons.

$4n + 2 = 10$ . So, $n = 2$ (an integer).

So, naphthalene is aromatic…

This link should help you.

Best regards;
Hossam…