Ethoxybenzene

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A colorless aromatic liquid ether in which an ethoxy group is bonded to a benzene ring, used as a solvent and in chemical synthesis
2. The organic compound phenetole, made of a benzene ring attached to an oxygen that links to an ethyl group, with a sweet odor
3. An aromatic ether consisting of a phenyl group joined to an ethoxy group, often used as an intermediate in making dyes and other chemicals

Etymology: Ethoxybenzene is a technical coinage from 19th-century chemistry rather than an ancient word, and its parts show exactly how it was built. "Benzene" came first: it was isolated by Michael Faraday in 1825 from illuminating gas residue, and the name was coined in the 1830s, drawing on "benzoin," a resin, and the "-ene" ending chemists used for hydrocarbons. "Ethoxy" is a combining form for the group made of an oxygen atom attached to an ethyl group, and "ethyl" itself came from "ether" plus the suffix "-yl," coined by Justus von Liebig and Friedrich Wöhler in the 1830s. Putting the pieces together, the name describes a benzene ring with an ethoxy group attached, the kind of systematic naming that lets chemists read a structure directly from the word.

Synonyms: phenetole