Aromaticity reversals between the electronic ground (S0) and low-lying singlet (S1, S2) and triplet (T1, T2, T3) states of naphthalene and anthracene are investigated by calculating the respective off-nucleus isotropic magnetic shielding distributions using complete-active-space self-consistent field (CASSCF) wavefunctions involving gauge-including atomic orbitals (GIAOs). The shielding distributions around the aromatic S0, antiaromatic S1 (1Lb), and aromatic S2 (1La) states in naphthalene are found to resemble the outcomes of fusing together the respective S0, S1, and S2 shielding distributions of two benzene rings. In anthracene, 1La is lower in energy than 1Lb, and as a result, the S1 state becomes aromatic, and the S2 state becomes antiaromatic; the corresponding shielding distributions are found to resemble extensions by one ring of those around the S2 and S1 states in naphthalene. The lowest antiaromatic singlet state of either molecule is found to be significantly more antiaromatic than the respective T1 state, which shows that it would be incorrect to assume that the similarity between the (anti)aromaticities of the S1 and T1 states in benzene, cyclobutadiene, and cyclooctatetraene would be maintained in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
