Main Difference
Hundreds of compounds exist that have their ways of becoming common and showing how they differ from each other. Properties play a significant role to do so, and that leads us to the two terms getting discussed in the article. Aromatic and Aliphatic compounds have their properties and therefore make things happen differently. Aromatic compounds get defined as the ones that have at least one benzene ring within their structure and have the characteristics of alternating double bonds within these rings. Aliphatic compounds get identified as the ones that have carbon and hydrogen atoms linked together forming straight chains. Other forms in which they may exist include branched trains and non-aromatic rings.
Comparison Chart
| Basis of Distinction | Aromatic Compounds | Aliphatic Compounds |
| Definition |
The ones that have at least one benzene ring within their structure and have the characteristics of alternating double bonds within these rings. | The ones that have carbon and hydrogen atoms linked together forming straight chains. |
| Smell | Always have fragrance | Do not have any fragrance. |
| Benzene | Always have a benzene ring within their structure | Do not have benzene or any other ring. |
| Example | The best example of aromatic compound becomes paint where no matter which color of the box gets opened the same fragrance of toluene becomes apparent. | The best example of aliphatic compound become methane, ethyne, propyne, propane and others. |
| Reaction | React only when the conditions are suitable. | React under most conditions and considered combustive. |
Aromatic Compounds
Aromatic compounds get defined as the ones that have at least one benzene ring within their structure and have the characteristics of alternating double bonds within these rings. Another way of defining the two terms becomes standard when we say that these substances have one or more rings that have alternating single and double bonds in their chemical structure. Most of such substances have some fragrance due to which it becomes easier to find the different between them and distinguish with others. At the same time, others exists that may have no smell but still have a chemical structure as explained above. They too, become known as aromatic compounds. The best example of such objects is benzene that has a hexagon ring with double bonds within them. Two different ways to get benzene to work exists at this stage, first when all the carbon and hydrogen atoms get bonded together, this helps with the double bonding. Another example paints, whenever we open a box, we have different kinds of fragrance coming out, even though the color may differ, but the smell stays the same. It is because of the substance called toluene which becomes a critical part of all the structures. The ring structure here always has coplanar nature, that means the same plane has all the atoms within them. All the properties that become required must follow huckel rule. Otherwise, they do not belong to the aroma categories and has to react at different stages.
Aliphatic Compounds
Aliphatic compounds get defined as the ones that have carbon and hydrogen atoms linked together forming straight chains. Other forms in which they may exist include branched trains and non-aromatic rings. Most of such compounds include the hydrocarbons that have become famous for inflammation and other purposes. All these have carbon and hydrogen bonding between them and therefore get the distinction when compared to others. Another way of explaining the term comes when we talk about smell, such substances do not have any aroma and therefore become known as not-aromic. Whenever these get linked together, they do so with a proper chain system within their structures, and therefore no one gets together with more than two carbon atoms at the same time, when hydrogen reacts. For a compound that has branches, at one time, more than three or four carbons are together with hydrogen so that the structure stays compact at all times. Most of them have cyclic nature and keep on repeating their structure throughout the compound. Another thing to note, they are either saturated or unsaturated. The first one has only one bond and may have some hydrogen atoms. The latter one has more than one bond but always the minimum number of hydrogen atoms. They have different properties, such as reacting with hydrogen whenever they come in contact with the atmosphere and therefore have inflammable nature. They are difficult to break and require high temperatures for any changes to take place within their internal bonding systems.
Key Differences
- Aromatic compounds get defined as the ones that have at least one benzene ring within their structure and have the characteristics of alternating double bonds within these rings. Aliphatic compounds get identified as the ones that have carbon and hydrogen atoms linked together forming straight chains. Other forms in which they may exist include branched trains and non-aromatic rings.
- Aromatic compounds have a particular fragrance whenever someone smells them, whereas aliphatic compounds do not have any scent.
- The best example of aromatic compound becomes paint where no matter which color of the box gets opened the same fragrance of toluene becomes apparent in the atmosphere. The best example of aliphatic compound become methane, ethyne, propyne, propane and others.
- Aliphatic compounds are also known as non-aromatic compounds.
- Aromatic compounds always have a benzene ring within their structure whereas aliphatic compounds do not have any such ring within their chain.
- Aromatic compounds do not react fast to conditions that are not suitable and require special ones to respond with something. Aliphatic compounds act without any problem and in any conditions.
- Aromatic compounds have a cyclic nature whereas aliphatic compounds may have a linear or cyclic nature.
- Aromatic compounds always have a full state, whereas aliphatic compounds can either be saturated or unsaturated depending on the conditions.
- Rings always have an alternating double bond in aromatic compounds, whereas no such bonding exists in aliphatic compounds.