The Unusual Transformation of an Aromatic 1<Emphasis Type="Italic">H</Emphasis>-Imidazole into a Non-Aromatic 2<Emphasis Type="Italic">H</Emphasis>-Imidazole

2H-Imidazole derivative 5 has been synthesized and characterized by the X-ray diffraction (XRD) method. The compound crystallizes in the monoclinic space group Cc with cell parameters a = 19.398(1), b = 8.890(1), c = 10.247(1), β = 110.76(1), Z = 4. The molecules are inter-linked through C–H⋅sO and C–H⋅sπ interactions forming infinite chains.     

Substituent effect on local aromaticity in mono and di‐substituted heterocyclic analogs of naphthalene

A quantitative study on local aromaticity has been performed on a series of mono‐ and di‐substituted biheterocycles (quinoline, isoquinoline, quinoxaline, quinazoline). Three electronically based indices (PDI, ATI, and FLU) have been employed to investigate the substituent effect on the π‐electron delocalization in both heterocycle and benzenoid rings. Three typical substituents (Cl, OCH₃, and CN) with different inductive and resonance power have been selected. Generally, substituent causes a reduction in aromaticity irrespective of whether it is electron attracting or electron donating. It is shown that the maximum aromaticity exhibits a similar trend of Cl > CN > OCH₃ for all the studied rings. Moreover, it is found that the substituent situation with respect to the heteroatom has a significant influence on the aromaticity. It results from our study that in di‐substituted derivatives, irrespective of whether the two substituents form a meta or para isomer, they preferably choose the position which leads to the maximum aromaticity character. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.