Thermal rearrangements of aromatic hydrocarbons have been shown to be important in areas of chemical research and industry including fullerene synthesis, materials applications, and the formation of soot in combustion. Thermal rearrangements of aceanthrylene and acephenanthrylene can yield fluoranthene, an important species in syntheses of corannulene and fullerenes that proceed through additional internal rearrangements.
Many of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons known to be tumorigenic or mutagenic are found in atmospheric aerosols, which is connected to the thermal rearrangement of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in fast soot formation during combustion.