Compounds were classified as being either aliphatic or aromatic in the latter part of the nineteenth century. To be classified as aliphatic meant then that the chemical behavior of a compound was “fatlike”. To be classified as aromatic meant then that the compound had a low hydrogen/carbon ratio and that it was “fragrant
Conjugated unsaturated systems have a p orbital on a carbon adjacent to a double bond The p orbital can come from another double or triple bond The p orbital may be the empty p orbital of a carbocation or a p orbital with a single electron in it (a radical)