Introduction
Since the isolation of benzene by Michael Faraday in 1825, aromaticity has arguably become one of the most fundamental and extensively studied concepts in chemistry. Although initially introduced to understand the particular properties of benzene and related aromatic hydrocarbons in their ground states, the concept has been extended far beyond benzonoid species to organometallic, inorganic, saturated molecules or species in their excited states.
In this presentation, we will explore the relationship between aromaticity and reactivity, focusing on how we can use aromaticity to influence the barrier heights of various representative transformations, spanning from pericyclic reactions to small molecule activation reactions promoted by main-group systems.