Hypothetical molecule might take wing in bird geometry

Iodabenzene, a molecule that so far has only existed in chemists’ imagination, might be realised experimentally as a bird-shaped structure. The peculiar compound, a benzene ring in which one of the methine (CH) groups is replaced with an iodine atom, was first proposed in 1991. However, the compound’s eight π electrons make it anti-aromatic and highly unstable – nobody has been able to synthesise it yet.