Octalene 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 Hydrophobe, hydrophobic; their odor is usually fain ...
composed of two fused
cyclooctatetraene
1,3,5,7-Cyclooctatetraene (COT) is an unsaturated derivative of cyclooctane, with the formula C8H8. It is also known as nnulene. This polyunsaturated hydrocarbon is a colorless to light yellow flammable liquid at room temperature. Because of ...
rings.
Anions
Octalene can be readily reduced by lithium to a dianion and, unusually for such a small molecule, a tetraanion .
[Müllen, K., Oth, J. F. M., Engels, H.-W. and Vogel, E. (1979), Dianion and Tetraanion Octalene. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl., 18: 229–231. doi:10.1002/anie.197902291] The di-anion has its two negative charges in one ring, converting that ring into a 10-pi electron aromatic system similar to the di-anion of
cyclooctatetraene
1,3,5,7-Cyclooctatetraene (COT) is an unsaturated derivative of cyclooctane, with the formula C8H8. It is also known as nnulene. This polyunsaturated hydrocarbon is a colorless to light yellow flammable liquid at room temperature. Because of ...
. In the 18-pi electron tetra-anion, both rings effectively have access to 10 pi electrons, leading to a planar, bicyclic aromatic structure analogous to that of
naphthalene
Naphthalene is an organic compound with formula . It is the simplest polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, and is a white Crystal, crystalline solid with a characteristic odor that is detectable at concentrations as low as 0.08 Parts-per notation ...
.
See also
*
Propalene
Propalene or bicyclo .1.0uta-1,3-diene is a polycyclic hydrocarbon composed of two fused cyclopropene rings. Computational studies indicate that the molecule is planar, with the carbon framework forming a parallelogram that has distinctly altern ...
*
Benzyne
*
Pentalene
Pentalene is a polycyclic hydrocarbon composed of two fused cyclopentadiene rings. It has chemical formula . It is antiaromatic, because it has 4''n'' π electrons where ''n'' is any integer. For this reason it dimerizes even at temperatures a ...
*
Heptalene
Heptalene is a polycyclic hydrocarbon with chemical formula , composed of two fused cycloheptatriene rings. It is an unstable, non-planar compound which is non-aromatic. The dianion, however, satisfies Hückel's rule
In organic chemistry, Hü ...
*
Butalene
Butalene is a polycyclic hydrocarbon composed of two fused cyclobutadiene rings. A reported possible synthesis of it involves an elimination reaction from a Dewar benzene derivative. The structure itself can be envisioned as benzene with an inte ...
References
{{reflist
Polycyclic nonaromatic hydrocarbons
Bicyclic compounds