How does an aromatic ring affect the stability of the anionic conjugate base?

Answer 1

Because it distributes the negative charge over several centres it should serve to stabilize the anion.

So how can we justify that statement? We might look at #pK_a# data for phenol, and for ethanol. If what I am saying is correct phenol should be a much stronger acid than ethanol (which does not act as an acid in aqueous solution).

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Answer 2

Lucy Alessi

The aromatic ring in a compound stabilizes the anionic conjugate base through resonance, which disperses the negative charge over multiple atoms in the ring, leading to increased stability compared to non-aromatic systems.

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.