Aminomethane

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A simple organic compound in which an amino group is attached to a single methyl carbon, a colourless flammable gas with a strong ammonia-like odour
2. The chemical name for methanamine, the smallest primary amine, made of one carbon atom bonded to an amino group and used in chemical synthesis
3. A small nitrogen-containing organic molecule, the simplest member of the primary amine family, commonly handled as a gas or aqueous solution in laboratories

Etymology: Methane, the simplest hydrocarbon, is a compound of one carbon atom and four hydrogens, and "aminomethane" is built by attaching an amino group to it. The name is a plain chemical compound: "amino" comes from ammonia, the nitrogen-hydrogen compound, and "methane" is the one-carbon alkane. Chemists combined these two existing names to describe a molecule in which one hydrogen of methane has been replaced by an amino group, which is why the word reads almost like a recipe. Because the amino group is what makes the molecule an amine, the name also tells you its class. Replacing a hydrogen on methane with an amino group yields methanamine, the simplest primary amine, and "aminomethane" is simply another name for that same molecule. The two names describe the same structure from different angles: one follows the older naming of amines as amino-substituted compounds, the other the modern systematic style.

Synonyms: methylamine