Butylates

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Introduces a butyl group into a chemical compound, typically by reacting it with a butylating agent
2. Attaches a four-carbon butyl radical to a molecule as part of a synthetic chemical process
3. Adds a butyl substituent to an organic substance, often to alter its solubility or reactivity

Etymology: Butylates is simply the third-person singular present of "butylate", a verb meaning to introduce a butyl group into a molecule. Its story is really the story of the chemical name it is built on. "Butyl" comes from "butyric", the name for the acid found in butter, and that acid got its name from the Latin word for butter, "butyrum". The chemists who named the four-carbon group took the first part of that word, "but-", and attached the ending "-yl", which chemists used for groups of atoms that behave as a unit within a larger molecule. The verb is then formed from "butyl" with the suffix "-ate", the standard chemical ending for a process of adding a group, so that "butylate" describes attaching a butyl group. The Greek word "boutyron", meaning butter, sits behind the Latin, which is why the prefix "but-" links this chemical term to something as ordinary as a dairy product.