List of chemical compounds with unusual names

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chemical nomenclature, replete as it is with compounds with complex names, is a repository for some very peculiar and sometimes startling names. A browse through the Physical Constants of Organic Compounds in the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (a fundamental resource) will reveal not just the whimsical work of organic chemists, but the sometimes peculiar compound names that occur as the consequence of simple juxtaposition. Some compounds whose names derive legitimately from their chemical makeup or from the geographic region where they may be found include:

• Adamantane (C₁₀H₁₆) a cycloalkane with no connection with Adam Ant;

• Arsole (C₄H₅As), an analogue of azole in which an arsenic atom replaces the nitrogen atom. Such a replacement in a benzene ring, where the arsenic atom replaces a carbon atom, is known as benzarsole;

• Barrelene (C₈H₈), the name derives from the obvious resemblance with a barrel;

• Bastardane, a close relative to adamantane and its proper name is ethano-bridged noradamante. Because its unusual ethano-bridge was a variation from the standard hydrocarbon caged rearrangements, it came to be known as bastardane—the unwanted child;

• Buckminsterfullerene or buckyballs, a form of carbon named after Buckminster Fuller due to its resemblance to Fuller's geodesic domes;

• Cadaverine, a foul-smelling diamine produced by putrefaction of dead animal tissue;

• Crapinon, an anticholinergic drug, one side effect of which is constipation;

• Cubane, a hydrocarbon whose eight carbon atoms occupy the vertices of a cube;

• Cummingtonite ((Mg,Fe)₇Si₈(OH)₂₂), a magnesium-iron silicate hydroxide, first identified in Cummington, Massachusetts;

• DEAD, an apt acronym, given that diethyl azodicarboxylate is explosive; shock sensitive; carcinogenic; and an eye, skin, and respiratory irritant;

• Dickite (Al₂Si₂O₅(OH)₄), a clay-like material with a number of manufacturing uses, one of which is as a coating for high-quality bond paper. It is named after its discoverer, Dr. W. Thomas Dick;

• Dinocap (C₁₈H₂₄N₂O₆), a miticide and contact fungicide used to control powdery mildew in crops;

• Draculin, an anticoagulant found in the saliva of vampire bats;

• Earthcide or Fartox, two of the many names for pentachloronitrobenzene, a fungicide;

• Fucitol (C₆H₁₄O₅), an alcohol derived from Fucus vesiculosis, a North Atlantic seaweed. Its optical isomers are also called D-fuc-ol and L-fuc-ol;

• Fukalite (Ca₄Si₂O₆(CO₃)(OH,F))₂, a rare form of calcium silicocarbonate mined in the Fuka region of Japan;

• Gossypol, a toxin found in cottonseed used as a male contraceptive;

• Megaphone, a ketone derived from the root of Aniba megaphylla;

• Naftazone (C₁₁H₉N₃O₂), a vasoprotective drug. The NAFTA free-trade zone is the area covered by NAFTA;

• Nonanal (C₉H₁₈O), an aldehyde derived from nonane;

• Orotic acid (pyrimidinecarboxylic acid), has been referred to as vitamin B₁₃;

• Penguinone, a cyclohexadienone;
• Hirsutene ^{[1] [2]} is also named after an animal: a goat (Hircus), occasionally the molecule is depicted upside down ^{[3] [4]}.

• Performic acid, a strongly oxidizing acid related to formic acid;

• Periodic acid (HIO₄), pronounced per-iodic and not periodic (like periodic table). Per denotes that iodine is in the highest possible oxidation state.

• Psicose (C₆H₁₂O₆), a rare low-calorie sugar that provides 0.3% as much energy as sucrose;

• Putrescine, a foul-smelling diamine produced by the putrefaction of dead animal tissue;

• R-CMP, a component of RNA, but also the acronym for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police;

• Rhamnose, a sugar naturally occurring in buckthorn (rhamnus);

• Skatole, a substance of disagreeable odor that occurs in feces, but also in lower concentrations in flowers, orange blossoms, jasmine;

• Spermine, Spermidine, polyamine growth factors involved in cellular metabolism;

• Thebacon (C₂₀H₂₃NO₄);

• Titanic acid, the hydrated form of titanium dioxide;

• Traumatic acid, a substance occurring in plants, with a role in healing damaged tissue;

• Unununium (Uuu), the former temporary name of the chemical element number 111, a synthetic transuranium element. This element was named roentgenium (Rg) in November 2004;

• Uranate, the chemical term for an oxide anion of the element uranium.

[edit] External links

• A more extensive list held at Bristol University;
• Arsole Aromaticity Revisited;
• "Pentachloronitrobenzene", NIST Chemistry Webbook.

[edit] References