Nitrating

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The action of introducing nitro groups into organic substances is referred to as adding these functional groups
2. This process entails replacing hydrogen atoms with nitro groups to alter molecular structures
3. The process of chemically modifying compounds involves the introduction of nitro groups into organic molecules to change their characteristics

Etymology: Nitrating is the present participle of "nitrate," a chemical verb whose ancestry runs back to the old name for saltpetre. The noun "nitrate" was borrowed from French, where "nitrate" was coined in the late eighteenth century by chemists working on a new system of chemical nomenclature, who built it from "nitre," the medieval Latin and French name for saltpetre (potassium nitrate). The Greek "nitron," a word for a natural alkaline salt, lies somewhere in that chain, though its exact route into Latin is less certain. The verb sense, to treat something with nitric acid or to introduce nitro groups into a compound, came later, as chemists in the nineteenth century began using nitric acid to make explosives and dyes. The "-ing" ending simply turns the verb into a participle, so "nitrating" describes the process underway.