Cyclohexanone

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. This substance is a clear, colorless ketone that acts as a solvent and is involved in the production of various chemicals, including nylon and adipic acid
2. As a colorless liquid within the ketone group, it is widely used in chemical synthesis and is notable for its role in producing nylon and adipic acid
3. A clear and colorless liquid ketone that serves as a solvent and an intermediate compound in manufacturing nylon and adipic acid

Etymology: Cyclohexanone is a compound name built like a chemist's sentence: "cyclo-" marks a ring of carbon atoms, "hexa-" means six, and "-one" marks a ketone group. Each piece is a Greek or Greek-derived element. The "cyclo-" comes from Greek "kuklos," meaning "circle" or "wheel," the same root behind "cycle." The "hex-" comes from Greek "hex," meaning "six," and the "-ane" ending, borrowed from Latin "-anus" through chemical naming, marks a saturated hydrocarbon of that kind. The "-one" ending is the younger piece. It was adapted from the German "Keton," which in turn gave English "ketone" for the family of compounds with a carbon-oxygen double bond inside a carbon chain. Chemists then attached "-one" to a ring-shaped ketone, producing a name that describes the molecule's structure directly: a six-carbon ring with a ketone group. Read in order, the name tells you the shape before you see the drawing.