tetrahydrofuran

1 9.9

A clear liquid that burns easily and is used to dissolve plastics in labs

noun
/ˌtɛtrəhaɪdrəˈfjʊərən/

Specialized

: tetrahidrofurano

Researchers conducted experiments using tetrahydrofuran to analyze its solvent properties.

Examples

Darunavir's chemical structure is almost identical to its precursor, amprenavir, in that it simply contains a double-ringed terminal bis-tetrahydrofuran group in place of the single-ringed terminal tetrahydrofuran on amprenavir.

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Darunavir's chemical structure is almost identical to its precursor, amprenavir, in that it simply contains a double-ringed terminal bis-tetrahydrofuran group in place of the single-ringed terminal tetrahydrofuran on amprenavir.

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The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection says a resident brought in a small bottle of tetrahydrofuran, a chemical used as a solvent and in manufacturing polymers.

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In laboratories, tetrahydrofuran is often used as a solvent for various polymers.
The chemical tetrahydrofuran is useful in industries for dissolving certain materials.

Surface Forms

tetrahydrofuran singular

tetrahydrofurans plural

Morphology

tetrahydrofuran = furan (opaque) = tetrahydro + furan

The form is chemically transparent but the meaning relies on specialized chemical nomenclature ('tetrahydro-' indicating addition of four hydrogens), which is not obvious to general learners.

Etymology

Tetrahydrofuran literally describes the chemical: tetra- means 'four', hydro- relates to 'water', and furan names a small five-sided 'ring' of atoms in the molecule. So the name tells chemists about its structure and helps explain why it is a strong solvent used in labs and industry.