Butalene is a polycyclic

hydrocarbon In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and hydrophobic, and their odors are usually weak or ...

composed of two fused

cyclobutadiene Cyclobutadiene is an organic compound with the formula . It is very reactive owing to its tendency to dimerize. Although the parent compound has not been isolated, some substituted derivatives are robust and a single molecule of cyclobutadiene is ...

rings. A reported possible synthesis of it involves an

elimination reaction An elimination reaction is a type of organic reaction in which two substituents are removed from a molecule in either a one- or two-step mechanism. The one-step mechanism is known as the E2 reaction, and the two-step mechanism is known as the E1 r ...

from a

Dewar benzene Dewar benzene (also spelled ''dewarbenzene'') or bicyclo .2.0exa-2,5-diene is a bicyclic isomer of benzene with the molecular formula C6H6. The compound is named after James Dewar who included this structure in a list of possible C6H6 structures i ...

derivative. The structure itself can be envisioned as

benzene Benzene is an organic chemical compound with the molecular formula C6H6. The benzene molecule is composed of six carbon atoms joined in a planar ring with one hydrogen atom attached to each. Because it contains only carbon and hydrogen ato ...

with an internal bridge, and calculations indicate it is somewhat less stable than the open 1,4-didehydrobenzene biradical, the

valence isomer In organic chemistry, two molecules are valence isomers when they are constitutional isomers that can interconvert through pericyclic reactions. Benzene There are many valence isomers one can draw for the C6H6 formula benzene. Some were originall ...

in which that bridged bond is broken.

Structure and bonding

Ab initio ''Ab initio'' ( ) is a Latin term meaning "from the beginning" and is derived from the Latin ''ab'' ("from") + ''initio'', ablative singular of ''initium'' ("beginning"). Etymology Circa 1600, from Latin, literally "from the beginning", from a ...

calculations indicate butalene has a planar geometry and, in keeping with a planar structure with 6

π-electron In chemistry, pi bonds (π bonds) are covalent chemical bonds, in each of which two lobes of an orbital on one atom overlap with two lobes of an orbital on another atom, and in which this overlap occurs laterally. Each of these atomic orbitals ...

configuration, is

aromatic In chemistry, aromaticity is a chemical property of cyclic (ring-shaped), ''typically'' planar (flat) molecular structures with pi bonds in resonance (those containing delocalized electrons) that gives increased stability compared to sat ...

. Thus, the most significant π bonding interactions involve

conjugation Conjugation or conjugate may refer to: Linguistics *Grammatical conjugation, the modification of a verb from its basic form * Emotive conjugation or Russell's conjugation, the use of loaded language Mathematics *Complex conjugation, the change ...

around the periphery of the whole six-atom structure, similar to benzene, rather than cross-ring resonance along the bridging bond. Significant resonance around one or the other four-membered ring alone would be a less-stable antiaromatic form, as is seen in

itself.

References

{{PAHs Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons Bicyclic compounds Four-membered rings

Structure and bonding

See also

References