Nomenclature of Aromatic Compound

NOMENCLATURE OF AROMATIC COMPOUNDS:

An aromatic compound consists of two parts nucleus and side chain

(A) Nucleus: The benzene ring present in aromatic compound is called nucleus. It is represented as follows

(B) Side chain: Alkyl or any other aliphatic group attached to the benzene nucleus by replacing one or more hydrogen atom is called the side chain

If one hydrogen atom, (or) two hydrogen atoms or three hydrogen atoms are replaced in the benzene ring by some other groups, they are termed as mono substituted, di substituted or tri substituted derivative respectively.

Example

If more than one hydrogen atom of benzene ring is replaced by some other atom or group, then their position is mentioned by Arabic numerals 1,2,3 ….. In case of disubstitution, respective position of two groups can also be mentioned as follows.

ortho - adjacent; represented as - o

meta - alternate; represented as - m

Para - opposite; represented as - p

Aromatic compounds are basically of two types:

1. Nuclear substituted aromatic compounds: These are the compounds in which the functional group is directly attached to the benzene ring. They are named as derivatives of benzene.

Nuclear substituaed aramatic Halogen derivatives compounds.

2. Side chain substituted aromatic compounds: These are the compounds in which the functional group is present in the side chain of the benzene ring. These are named as phenyl derivatives of the corresponding aliphatic compounds.

Side chain substituted

Aryl groups

Selection of parent hydrocarbon out of side chain and benzene ring is based on (more or less) some rule as for the alicyclic compounds.