Quinone methides are cross-conjugated rather than aromatic. Nucleophilic addition at the exo-cyclic double bond will result in rearomatisation, making such reactions highly favourable. As a result, quinone methides are excellent, electrophilic Michael acceptors, react quickly with nucleophiles and can be easily reduced. They are able to act as radical scavengers via a similar process, a behaviour exploited by certain polymerisation inhibitors. Quinone methides are more polar than quinones, and therefore more chemically reactive. Simple unhindered quinone methides are short lived reactive intermediates that are not stable enough to be isolated under normal circumstances, they will trimerise in the absence of nucleophiles. Sterically hindered quinone methides can be sufficiently stable to be isolated, with some examples being commercially available.