Isonitrile

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A specific class of organic compounds that consists of a carbon atom linked by a triple bond to a nitrogen atom, typically forming a functional group with an alkyl or aryl substituent
2. This type of chemical compound has a structure where a nitrile functional group is directly bonded to a carbon atom that is also connected to other organic moieties, commonly investigated for its roles in synthesis
3. A category of organic molecules characterized by a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom and typically attached to additional carbon-containing groups

Etymology: "Isonitrile" is a plain technical compound, built from the prefix "iso-" and "nitrile." The prefix comes from the Ancient Greek "isos," meaning "equal" or "same," and in chemistry it marks a compound whose structure is an isomer of another, here a rearranged form of a nitrile. Nitriles, a family of compounds with a carbon-nitrogen triple bond, take their name from "nitre" plus the suffix "-ile," which chemists borrowed from the older "benzonitrile" and then clipped into a general term. The isonitrile group is a structural cousin of the nitrile: the same atoms, arranged differently, with the carbon sitting at the end of the chain rather than the nitrogen. That reversal gives these molecules their distinctive behaviour, and the name records it in a single prefix.