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Cyclobutadiene is very unstable. But, some sources claim that this instability can be attributed to other factors such as ring and angle strain rather than antiaromaticity.
According to some, cyclobutadiene is simply non-aromatic (as opposed to antiaromatic) because it doesn't even have a fully conjugated pi system.
What is/are the real reason(s) for its instability?
2026-10-24