The shielding cone in spherical aromatic structures: insights from models for spherical 2(N + 1)² aromatic fullerenes

A direct correlation between π- and spherical aromaticity of the aromatic structures was established by showing that they shared a characteristic shielding cone, resulting from a specific orientation of the applied field. Herein, we revealed the presence of a related long-range shielding cone in spherical aromatic species that was demonstrated through C₂₀, C₃₂, C₅₀, and C₆₀ Hirsh aromatic fullerenes. It was found that while for planar aromatics, the cone is reserved only for a perpendicularly applied field, for spherical aromatic compounds, the three-dimensional cage allows the formation of a shielding cone according to the given orientation of the external field.