benzene

Question 1

what is benzene?

Answer 1

C6H6

the simplest member of the class if aromatic hydrocarbons

Question 2

What is the stability of the benzene ring due to and what does this explain?

Answer 2

the delocalisation of electrons in the conjugated system

The presence of delicalised electrons explains why the benzene ring does not take part in addition reactions

Question 3

How can bonding in benzene be described in terms of

Answer 3

sp2 hybridisation, sigma and pi bonds, and electron delocalisation

Question 4

What is a phenyl group?
+formula

Answer 4

A benzene ring in which one H atom has been substituted by another group

The phenyl group has the formula -C6H5

Question 5

What reactions can a benzene ring take part in?

Answer 5

halogenation by reaction of a halogen using aluminium chloride or iron (III) chloride for chlorination and aluminium bromide or iron(Ill) bromide for bromination

alkylation by reaction of a haloalkane using aluminium chloride

nitration using concentrated sulfuric acid and concentrated nitric acid

sulfonation using concentrated sulfuric acid