biostudies-literatureSomani AEuropean Research CouncilDeutsche Forschungsgemeinschafte70325https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC12903192biostudies-literatureUnknown47(5)The energy of cyclacenes arises from a subtle interplay between structural strain and aromatic stabilization. To disentangle these effects, we employ strain-corrected heats of hydrogenation as a direct thermodynamic probe, supported by thermally-assisted-occupation density functional theory that is capable of capturing strong static correlation. Previous analyses of magnetic properties demonstrated a pronounced even-odd pattern: cyclacenes with an even number of fused rings fulfill magnetic criteria of aromaticity, whereas odd-membered analogs do not according to diamagnetic susceptibility exaltation, nucleus-independent chemical shifts, and anisotropy of induced current density (ACID). Our results demonstrate, however, that this predicted aromaticity does not translate into discernible thJournal of computational chemistryCyclacene Stability: The Interplay of Strain, Aromaticity and Force Coupling.PMC12903192101071420INST 40/575-1 FUGG101071420-TACY-ERC-2022-SYG101071420‐TACY‐ERC‐2022‐SYGINST 40/575‐1 FUGGGupta DBettinger HFSomani AGrunenberg JfalseCyclacene Stability: The Interplay of Strain, Aromaticity and Force Coupling.The energy of cyclacenes arises from a subtle interplay between structural strain and aromatic stabilization. To disentangle these effects, we employ strain-corrected heats of hydrogenation as a direct thermodynamic probe, supported by thermally-assisted-occupation density functional theory that is capable of capturing strong static correlation. Previous analyses of magnetic properties demonstrated a pronounced even-odd pattern: cyclacenes with an even number of fused rings fulfill magnetic criteria of aromaticity, whereas odd-membered analogs do not according to diamagnetic susceptibility exaltation, nucleus-independent chemical shifts, and anisotropy of induced current density (ACID). Our results demonstrate, however, that this predicted aromaticity does not translate into discernible th2026-01-01T00:00:00Z2026 Feb2026-07-15T17:26:07.07Z2026-07-07T03:08:29.817ZS-EPMC129031924168566110.1002/jcc.70325