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Glite Dictionary
benzonitrile

benzonitrile

1 9.9
A colorless toxic liquid used as a solvent in chemical reactions
  • noun
  • /ˌbɛnzoʊˈnaɪtraɪl/
  • Specialized
: benzonitrilo
  • Researchers found that benzonitrile could dissolve various organic compounds efficiently.

Examples

  • In the lab, we used benzonitrile as a solvent for the chemical reactions.

  • Benzonitrile is often employed in benzonitrile synthesis due to its effective properties.

  • The instruments were calibrated each day before analysis using a benzonitrile reference standard (Rigaku, US).

    Academic text (2016)

Surface Forms

benzonitrile singular
benzonitriles plural

Morphology

benzonitrile = nitrile (opaque) = benzo + nitrile

The term 'benzonitrile' is a specialized chemical term where 'benzo' refers to the benzene ring and 'nitrile' to the cyano group, which may not be evident to learners without chemistry knowledge.

Etymology

The word benzonitrile comes from benzene and nitrile, where benzene names a six‑carbon 'ring' and nitrile shows there is a 'nitrogen' part, like the word nitrogen. So benzonitrile simply means a benzene 'ring' with a nitrile attached, which explains its structure.