What is the difference between anti-aromatic and non aromatic compounds?

1 Answer
Jul 27, 2016

Non aromatic compounds fullfil none of the requirements for aromaticity. Antiaromatic compounds have some of the requirements but not in terms of electron numbers.

Explanation:

Aromatic compounds are cyclic and have a #pi# electron system that contains (4n+2) #pi# electrons. The number of electrons allows delocalisation of the electron cloud which lowers the overall energy of the system and increases stability.

Anti-aromatic compounds are also cyclic, and each component carbon atom also exhibits #pi# bonidng, has a but actually have a higher energy due to the presence of (4n) #pi# electrons - the ring current observed in these compounds is paramagnetic, rather than diamagnetic.

Non-aromatic compounds are either not cyclic, or are cyclic without being "flat" rings (e.g. #sp^3# hybridised carbons, such as cyclohexane).