Aromaticity denotes the significant stabilization of a ring compound by a system of alternating single and double bonds—called a cyclic conjugated system—in which six π electrons generally participate. A nitrogen atom in a ring can carry a positive or a negative charge, or it can be in the neutral form. An oxygen or sulfur atom in a ring can either be in the neutral form or carry a positive charge. A fundamental distinction is usually made between (1) those heteroatoms that participate in a cyclic conjugated system by means of a lone, or unshared, pair of electrons that are in an orbital perpendicular to the plane of the ring and (2) those heteroatoms that do so because they are connected to another atom by means of a double bond.

An example of an atom of the first type is the nitrogen atom in pyrrole, which is linked by single covalent bonds to two carbon atoms and one hydrogen atom. Nitrogen has an outermost shell of five electrons, three of which can enter into three covalent bonds with other atoms. After the bonds are formed, as in the case of pyrrole, there remains an unshared electron pair that can engage in cyclic conjugation. The aromatic sextet in pyrrole is made up of two electrons from each of the two carbon-carbon double bonds and the two electrons that compose the unshared electron pair of the nitrogen atom. As a consequence, there tends to be a net flow of electron density from the nitrogen atom to the carbon atoms as the nitrogen’s electrons are drawn into the aromatic sextet. Alternatively, the pyrrole molecule may be described as a resonance hybrid—that is, a molecule whose true structure can only be approximated by two or more different forms, called resonance forms.

An example of a heteroatom of the second type is the nitrogen atom in pyridine, which is linked by covalent bonds to only two carbon atoms. Pyridine also has a π-electron sextet, but the nitrogen atom contributes only one electron to it, one additional electron being contributed by each of the five carbon atoms in the ring. In particular, the unshared electron pair of the nitrogen atom is not involved. Moreover, because nitrogen’s attraction for electrons (its electronegativity) is greater than that of carbon, electrons tend to move toward the nitrogen atom rather than away from it, as in pyrrole.

Quite generally, heteroatoms may be referred to as pyrrolelike or pyridine-like, depending on whether they fall into the first or second class described above. The pyrrolelike heteroatoms ―NR― (R being hydrogen or a hydrocarbon group), ―N⁻―, ―O―, and ―S― tend to donate electrons into the π-electron system, whereas the pyridine-like heteroatoms ―N=, ―N⁺R=, ―O⁺=, and ―S⁺= tend to attract the π electrons of a double bond.

In six-membered heteroaromatic rings, the heteroatoms (usually nitrogen) are pyridine-like—for example, the compounds pyrimidine, which contains two nitrogen atoms, and 1,2,4-triazine, which contains three nitrogen atoms.

Six-membered heteroaromatic compounds cannot normally contain pyrrolelike heteroatoms. Five-membered heteroaromatic rings, however, always contain one pyrrolelike nitrogen, oxygen, or sulfur atom, and they may also contain up to four pyridine-like heteroatoms, as in the compounds thiophene (with one sulfur atom), 1,2,4-oxadiazole (with one oxygen atom and two nitrogen atoms), and pentazole (with five nitrogen atoms).

The quantitative measurement of aromaticity—and even its precise definition—has challenged chemists since German chemist August Kekule formulated the ring structure for benzene in the mid-19th century. Various methods based on energetic, structural, and magnetic criteria have been widely used to measure the aromaticity of carbocyclic compounds. All of them, however, are difficult to apply quantitatively to heteroaromatic systems because of complications arising from the presence of heteroatoms.

Chemical reactivity can provide a certain qualitative insight into aromaticity. The reactivity of an aromatic compound is affected by the extra stability of the conjugated system that it contains; the extra stability in turn determines the tendency of the compound to react by substitution of hydrogen—i.e., replacement of a singly bonded hydrogen atom with another singly bonded atom or group—rather than by addition of one or more atoms to the molecule via the breaking of a double bond (see substitution reaction; addition reaction). In terms of reactivity, therefore, the degree of aromaticity is measured by the relative tendency toward substitution rather than addition. By this criterion, pyridine is more aromatic than furan, but it is difficult to say just how much more aromatic.

Physical properties of heterocyclic compounds

Physical properties are important as criteria for judging the purity of heterocycles just as for other organic compounds. Organic compounds generally show great regularity in their physical properties, and heterocycles are no exception.

The melting point was once a widely used criterion for purity, but it has been increasingly superseded by optical spectra, based on light absorption; mass spectra, based on relative masses of molecular fragments; and magnetic resonance spectra, based on nuclear properties (see spectroscopy). Nevertheless, knowledge of melting and boiling points is still helpful for judging the purity of a compound.