Methanamine

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A flammable, gaseous compound of carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen that is the simplest primary amine and is used in chemical synthesis
2. The simplest organic amine, a colorless gas with an ammonia-like odor that is widely used as a building block in industrial chemistry
3. A small primary amine consisting of a single carbon atom bonded to an amino group, commonly employed in the manufacture of other chemicals

Etymology: Methanamine is a chemical name built from two parts you can see in the word itself. "Methyl" is the name chemists gave to the one-carbon group CH3, a term formed from "methylene", which in turn comes from "methy-", the combining form for wood spirit, the older name for methanol. "Amine" is the family name for compounds derived from ammonia by replacing hydrogen atoms with carbon-based groups. Put together, a methyl group attached to an amine gives the simplest member of that family. The compound is one of several names for the same molecule, CH3NH2, and "methanamine" is the systematic form that follows the modern naming rules, where the parent chain is named "methane" and the nitrogen group becomes "-amine". The older name, "methylamine", simply joins the two components directly. Both names describe the same substance, which is a gas at room temperature with a strong fishy smell.

Synonyms: methylamine