How to teach aromatic chemistry at post-16

Aromatic compounds are conjugated cycloalkenes that have enhanced stability because of the delocalisation of the electrons in the pi system. Benzene is the archetypal aromatic compound. It has a conjugated pi system with six electrons delocalised around the ring in a six- centre pi orbital. The conjugated pi system extends around the whole ring rather than three isolated pi bonds in three of the sides of the hexagon. Read the article for ideas and tips on teaching this topic post-16. 

Download the resource for a lesson plan to introduce and explore the structure of benzene, introducing double bond equivalents and exploring the evidence for the delocalised pi bond.