March 29, 2024, 03:10:05 AM
Forum Rules: Read This Before Posting


Topic: What does the ring in the Benzene molecule mean?  (Read 12975 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Beatles

  • Guest
What does the ring in the Benzene molecule mean?
« on: December 23, 2005, 01:41:16 PM »
What does the ring in the Benzene molecule mean?
« Last Edit: December 23, 2005, 02:08:03 PM by Mitch »

Offline Mitch

  • General Chemist
  • Administrator
  • Sr. Member
  • *
  • Posts: 5298
  • Mole Snacks: +376/-3
  • Gender: Male
  • "I bring you peace." -Mr. Burns
    • Chemistry Blog
Re: What does the ring in the Benzene molecule mean?
« Reply #1 on: December 23, 2005, 02:09:08 PM »
conjugated double bonds.
Most Common Suggestions I Make on the Forums.
1. Start by writing a balanced chemical equation.
2. Don't confuse thermodynamic stability with chemical reactivity.
3. Forum Supports LaTex

Beatles

  • Guest
Re: What does the ring in the Benzene molecule mean?
« Reply #2 on: December 24, 2005, 04:55:36 AM »
what is a  conjugated double bond?

Offline Albert

  • Lonely Wanderer
  • Retired Staff
  • Sr. Member
  • *
  • Posts: 1050
  • Mole Snacks: +112/-22
  • Gender: Male
  • Half Decent Pharmaceutical Chemist
Re: What does the ring in the Benzene molecule mean?
« Reply #3 on: December 24, 2005, 05:40:08 AM »
Benzene is a resonance hybrid: this means that benzene has more than one 'correct' Lewis' structures, none of whom can be considered the right one.

Drawing a ring inthe molecule, you stress the fact that benzene has delocalized electrons, thanks to its conjugated double bonds (see below).

Offline jdurg

  • Banninator
  • Retired Staff
  • Sr. Member
  • *
  • Posts: 1366
  • Mole Snacks: +106/-23
  • Gender: Male
  • I am NOT a freak.
Re: What does the ring in the Benzene molecule mean?
« Reply #4 on: December 25, 2005, 12:28:47 AM »
And to simplify it even further, the bonds between the carbon atoms in a benzene ring aren't really double bonds, but they aren't really single bonds either.  Each carbon atom has a normal bond to the carbon atom next to it, but it also has another bond which is not really 'typical'.  In this bond, the electron flows all the way around the entire ring.  It's not centered on any one C-C "bond".  In order to represent this when drawing the structure, it's drawn as a circle inside the benzene ring.  This denotes that there is one standard bond between each of the C atoms and a delocalized bond spread out over all 6 carbon atoms.
"A real fart is beefy, has a density greater than or equal to the air surrounding it, consists

Offline Donaldson Tan

  • Editor, New Asia Republic
  • Retired Staff
  • Sr. Member
  • *
  • Posts: 3177
  • Mole Snacks: +261/-13
  • Gender: Male
    • New Asia Republic
Re: What does the ring in the Benzene molecule mean?
« Reply #5 on: December 26, 2005, 05:25:20 PM »
the ring refers to the pi electron system that arises due to conjugated double bonds. The 2p orbital of each carbon atom in the benzene ring overlaps one another to form a large molecular orbital in the shape of a ring, above and below the benzene ring. The pi electron system occupies this molecular orbital.
"Say you're in a [chemical] plant and there's a snake on the floor. What are you going to do? Call a consultant? Get a meeting together to talk about which color is the snake? Employees should do one thing: walk over there and you step on the friggin� snake." - Jean-Pierre Garnier, CEO of Glaxosmithkline, June 2006

Offline AWK

  • Retired Staff
  • Sr. Member
  • *
  • Posts: 7979
  • Mole Snacks: +555/-93
  • Gender: Male
AWK

Sponsored Links