Perbenzoic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Describing a chemical compound that is derived from benzoic acid, the simplest aromatic carboxylic acid, with the molecule modified in a particular way
2. Relating to a substance built on the benzoic acid structure, a benzene ring bearing a carboxyl group, in a specific chemical form
3. Characterizing an organic compound based on benzoic acid, often used in chemistry to specify a particular derivative or arrangement of atoms

Etymology: Perbenzoic is a chemistry term, and its history is a plain one: it is a technical coinage built from the prefix "per-" and "benzoic." Benzoic acid was named in the early 1800s from "benzoin," the aromatic resin (itself from Arabic and Latin sources) that was the first source of the compound, and the "-ic" ending marks it as an acid. The prefix "per-" was used in nineteenth-century chemistry to indicate a higher proportion of oxygen or a higher oxidation state, so "perbenzoic" describes a benzoic acid with an extra oxygen atom in its structure. The most important example is perbenzoic acid, which chemists prepare by oxidizing benzoic acid or its derivatives. It is used as a reagent in organic synthesis, notably in the epoxidation of alkenes, where it transfers an oxygen atom to a carbon-carbon double bond. The term was coined by chemists during the period when systematic naming of organic compounds was developing, so the word reflects a deliberate system rather than a long folk history.