Editing Simple aromatic ring (section)

{{Short description|Aromatic organic compounds consisting only of a conjugated planar ring system}}
'''Simple aromatic rings''', also known as '''simple arenes''' or '''simple aromatics''', are [[aromatic]] [[organic compound]]s that consist only of a [[conjugated system|conjugated]] planar ring system.{{cn|date=May 2025}} Many simple aromatic rings have trivial names. They are usually found as substructures of more complex [[molecule]]s ("[[substitution (chemistry)|substituted]] aromatics"). Typical simple aromatic compounds are [[benzene]], [[indole]], and [[pyridine]].<ref name=Clayden1st>{{cite book |last=Clayden |first=J. |last2=Greeves |first2=N. |last3=Warren |first3=S. |last4=Wothers |first4=P. |title=Organic Chemistry |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, Oxfordshire |year=2001 |isbn=0-19-850346-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/organicchemistry00clay_0 |url-access=registration }}</ref>{{Page needed|date=May 2025}}<ref name=Eicher>{{cite book |author1=Eicher, T. |author2=Hauptmann, S. | title = The Chemistry of Heterocycles: Structure, Reactions, Syntheses, and Applications | publisher = Wiley-VCH | year = 2003|edition=2nd | isbn = 3-527-30720-6}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=May 2025}}

Simple aromatic rings can be [[heterocyclic]] if they contain non-[[carbon]] ring atoms, for example, [[oxygen]], [[nitrogen]], or [[sulfur]]. They can be monocyclic as in benzene, bicyclic as in [[naphthalene]], or polycyclic as in [[anthracene]]. Simple monocyclic aromatic rings are usually five-membered rings like [[pyrrole]] or six-membered rings like [[pyridine]]. Fused [[bicyclic molecule]]s consist of two rings that are connected by shared edges.{{clarify|reason=How many rings can there be and have it "simple"?|date=May 2025}}