Question for people who know stuff about organic chem: Is cyclopentane an aromatic?

No but cyclopentene is aromatic.

6sdfjn 3 a87 n4kjbj wrote:

No but cyclopentene is aromatic.

Nope.

Aromatic = flat molecule with alternating double bonds

cyclopentene has only 1 db and is not flat.

So is cyclopentane aromatic?

You're welcome.

Generally speaking, you need 4n+2 pi electrons in a ring. So if you have 2, 6, 10, 14 pi electrons (that can be delocalized) then you can have aromaticity.

I don't get it...So Benzene has 3 because it has 3 pi bonds? How does that fit the 4n + 2 rule?

cyclopentane = Not aromatic

Alternating double bonds?

No, has only single bonds.

Flat (planar) molecule?

No, single bonds allow the molecule to "flex", therefore it's not flat.

n = an integer

Benzene has a cyclic pi bonding system with 6 electrons (3 pi bonds x 2 electrons/bond). 6 = 4(1)+2 and 1 is an integer so it benzene fits the 4n+2 rule