Imidazole

Imidazole
Chemical name	Imidazole
Chemical formula	C3H4N2
Molecular mass	68.08 g/mol
Melting point	88 - 90 °C
Boiling point	255 - 256 °C
CAS number	288-32-4
SMILES	C1=NC=CN1

Imidazole is a heterocyclic aromatic organic compound. This ring system is present in important biological building blocks such as histidine and histamine. Imidazoles can act as bases (pK_a = 7.0) and as a weak acids (pK_a = 14.5). Imidazoles exists in two tautomeric forms with a hydrogen atom moving between the two nitrogens.

Many drugs contain an imidazole ring, see for instance antifungal drugs and nitroimidazole.

See also

• Benzimidazole, an analog with a fused benzene ring.
• Pyrrole, an analog with only one nitrogen atom in position 1.
• Oxazole, an analog with the nitrogen atom in position 1 replaced by oxygen.
• Simple aromatic rings

External references

Heterocyclic Chemistry TL Gilchrist, The Bath press 1985 ISBN 0582014212