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Glite Dictionary
butanal

butanal

1 8.9
A colorless liquid chemists use as a solvent and to make other chemicals
  • noun
  • /ˈbjuːtənæl/
  • Specialized
: butanal
  • They used butanal as a starting material to synthesize a new compound.

Examples

  • Proper ventilation is important when working with butanal in the laboratory.

  • The chemist measured the amount of butanal needed for the reaction.

  • The chemist used butanal in her experiments.

  • Is butanal safe to handle in the lab?

  • butanal is commonly used as a solvent in various chemical reactions in organic synthesis.

  • In the laboratory, scientists often utilize butanal for producing important intermediates in organic chemistry.

  • The reaction of butanal with other reagents produces several useful compounds for industrial applications.

Surface Forms

butanal singular
butanals plural

Morphology

butanal = butane (opaque) = butan + al

Although the word is formally built from a butane stem plus a chemical aldehyde suffix, the meaning is specialized and not directly recoverable for an average learner.

Etymology

The word butanal comes from chemical naming: the part but- means 'four' (a chain of four carbon atoms), the same but- you see in butane, and the ending -al means 'an aldehyde' (a type of chemical). So butanal is the aldehyde with four carbons, which fits its use as a colorless liquid solvent and starting material in reactions.