====== Automerization ======

//Automerization //is the name given to a process in which carbon-ring chemicals tend to spontaneously transform into closely-related chemicals when heated.

The first example found was the transformation of azulene to naphthalene.

The 'reactions' involve a re-arrangement (so called 'scrambling') of the atoms in the chemicals' carbon ring.

> [...] since the characterization of the automerization of naphthalene by Scott in 1977, similar atom scramblings of other aromatic hydrocarbons such as pyrene, azulene, benz[a]anthracene and even benzene have been described. __While the existence of these reactions has been confirmed, the isomerization and automerization mechanisms remain unknown. __\\ See: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_rearrangement_of_aromatic_hydrocarbons#Mechanisms|Wikipedia]]

//Note:// Various mechanisms have been proposed to explain the changes - some at quantum level, e.g. 'carbon tunnelling' -  but none has been formally adopted.

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Also see: [[content:chemistry:benzene]]