Aromatic hydrocarbon
hydrocarbon with alternating double and single bonds between carbon atoms forming rings / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An aromatic hydrocarbon, or arene,[1][2] is a hydrocarbon ring compound. It has alternating double and single bonds between carbon atoms forming rings. Many of the compounds have a sweet scent, hence the term 'aromatic'. The ring of six carbon atoms in aromatic compounds is known as a benzene ring, after the simplest possible hydrocarbon ring, benzene. Aromatic hydrocarbons can be monocyclic (MAH) or polycyclic (PAH).
Some non-benzene-based compounds called heteroarenes, which follow Hückel's rule, are also aromatic compounds. In these compounds, at least one carbon atom is replaced by one of oxygen, nitrogen, or sulfur.[3]