Dehydropeptides

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Peptide molecules in which some amino acid units have lost water, forming modified residues within the chain
2. Chains of amino acids that have undergone dehydration, creating altered linkages in their structure
3. Short protein fragments whose constituent residues have been chemically dehydrated during formation or processing

Etymology: "Dehydropeptides" is the plural of "dehydropeptide," a term from chemistry. It is built from "dehydro-," a prefix meaning that hydrogen atoms have been removed from a molecule, and "peptide," a short chain of amino acids linked together. Put together, the name describes a peptide that has lost hydrogen (and, in the usual sense, the elements of water) during its formation or modification. The prefix combines the Greek-derived "hydro-," meaning water or hydrogen, with the Latin-derived "de-," indicating removal. The word is a modern technical coinage, built from standard chemical building blocks rather than from any ancient or everyday term. Its parts were assembled according to the systematic naming conventions of organic chemistry, which is why it reads transparently to anyone familiar with the vocabulary. Because the name follows a pattern, chemists can form similar terms, such as "dehydroamino acids," on the same model.