Hydroxybenzoquinone
A hydroxybenzoquinone is any of several organic compounds that can be viewed as derivatives of a benzoquinone through replacement of one hydrogen atom by a hydroxyl group.
In general, the term may mean any benzoquinone derivative where any number n of hydrogens have been replaced by n hydroxyls, so that the formula is. In this case the number n is indicated by a multiplier prefix.
The unqualified term "hydroxybenzoquinone" usually means a derivative of 1,4-benzoquinone. Other hydroxy- compounds can be derived from the other isomer, namely 1,2-benzoquinone or ortho-benzoquinone. The IUPAC nomenclature uses dihydrobenzenedione instead of "benzoquinone", with the necessary prefixes to indicate the positions of the carbonyl oxygens — as in 2,3-dihydroxy-1a,4a-dihydrobenzene-1,4-dione.
The hydroxybenzoquinones include many biologically and industrially important compounds, and are a building block of many medicinal drugs.
List of compounds
From 1,4-benzoquinone
Due to the symmetry of the 1,4-benzoquinone core, there is only one distinct isomer with 1, 3, or 4 substituted hydroxyls, and three isomers with 2 hydroxyls:- 2-Hydroxy-1,4-benzoquinone
- 2,3-Dihydroxy-1,4-benzoquinone
- 2,5-Dihydroxy-1,4-benzoquinone
- 2,6-Dihydroxy-1,4-benzoquinone
- 2,3,5-Trihydroxy-1,4-benzoquinone
- 2,3,5,6-Tetrahydroxy-1,4-benzoquinone