Aromatic Hydrocarbons

Aromatic hydrocarbons, also called arenes, are hydrocarbons whose structure and chemical behaviour resemble benzene, the simplest and most fundamental aromatic compound. The word 'aromatic' historically comes from the fact that many naturally occurring compounds of this structural family -- extracted from resins, balsams, oil of wintergreen, and similar natural sources -- happen to have a pleasant fragrance (aroma meaning smell). This original naming link between structure and smell is not a reliable rule, though: some benzene-ring-containing compounds (anthracene, for instance) are odourless, while many pleasant-smelling natural compounds do not resemble benzene's ring structure at all. What genuinely defines an aromatic h …