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Glite Dictionary
🧪 A chemical liquid 🌳 A plant gas
isoprene

isoprene

1 8.6
A gas plants release that helps protect leaves from heat and affects air quality
  • noun
  • /ˈaɪsəˌprin/
  • Specialized
: isopreno
  • Isoprene is emitted in large amounts by the Amazon Rainforest and has a short half-life in the atmosphere, where it is converted into aerosol particles.
  • isoprene emissions

Examples

  • Amazonian tree cover accounts for a large part of the world's atmospheric isoprene.

  • The authors also found that as the elevation of the terrain in the Amazon got higher, isoprene emissions got higher too.

  • Terpenes and isoprenes are primarily released in the gas phase by plants in the jungle, and once in the atmosphere, they react with water, oxygen, organic compounds, acids, and other chemicals exuded by indigenous plants.

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Surface Forms

isoprene singular
isoprenes plural

Morphology

isoprene = prene (opaque) = iso + prene

The parts are specialised chemical combining forms; a typical B1 learner cannot derive the meaning from 'iso-' + 'prene' without domain-specific knowledge.

Etymology

Isoprene comes from the chemical prefix iso- ('equal') and the ending -prene, which connects it to plant chemicals called terpenes that give trees their smells. That's why isoprene is a gas from plants that helps protect leaves on hot days.