Stability and Special Reactivity

Few molecules have influenced the development of organic chemistry more than benzene.

Although benzene contains multiple double bonds, it behaves very differently from ordinary alkenes.

Its unusual stability and distinctive patterns of reactivity arise from electron delocalization and aromaticity.

Understanding aromatic compounds represents one of the most elegant applications of resonance in organic chemistry.

The same ideas encountered throughout the handbook continue to appear:

• resonance,
  
• stability,
  
• electron flow,
  
• electrophiles,
  
• and functional group transformations.

Chapters in This Part

The chapters in this part explore:

• aromaticity,
  
• electrophilic aromatic substitution,
  
• and the effects of substituents on aromatic reactivity.

Together, these concepts explain the chemistry of many biologically and industrially important compounds.