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Glite Dictionary
🧪 Containing naphthalene 🔬 A chemical group
naphthyl

naphthyl

1 9.9
A chemical group made from naphthalene that appears in many dyes and medicines
  • noun
  • /ˈnæfθɪl/
  • Specialized
: naftilo
  • Researchers studied the properties of naphthyl compounds to develop more effective pharmaceuticals.
  • naphthyl acid

Examples

  • Working in clusters, she first dripped naphthyl acid phosphate, and then added drops of fast-blue B salt, which caused the smear to pop up purple in a matter of seconds if seminal fluid was present.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • The chemist added naphthyl boronic acid to the reaction mixture to enhance the synthesis process.

  • "She was dripping naphthyl acid phosphate on small circles of white filter paper.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • In organic chemistry, compounds containing the naphthyl group are often used as intermediates for various reactions.

Surface Forms

naphthyl singular
naphthyls plural

Morphology

naphthyl = naphthalene (semi-transparent) = naphth + yl

Derived from 'naphthalene' with the standard chemical suffix '-yl' to name a radical/group; formation is regular but requires chemical knowledge.

Etymology

Naphthyl is the name for a group in a molecule that comes from naphthalene, whose name comes from naphtha meaning 'oil'. So a naphthyl is the 'oil-like' piece of many organic chemicals that can change how the whole molecule behaves.