Determining Aromaticity

Aromatic compounds are unusually stable pi systems with the following characteristics:

Cyclic planar pi system: The delocalization must go around a ring.
4n+2 pi electrons: Aromatic compounds must have 2, 6, 10, 14, etc... pi electrons.

Helpful Tips

Lone pairs: Lone pairs must be conjugated with the cyclic pi system. A common pattern is that lone pairs on an atom that is part of a double bond do NOT count for 4n+2 purposes.

Practice Identifying Aromatic Compounds

Assign the molecules below as being either aromatic or not.

Loading...

Does this molecule contain an aromatic ring?

🌐 Global All-time Score

Correct: ... Incorrect: ...