Picolines

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Any of three isomeric organic compounds, methylpyridines, that are colorless liquids with an unpleasant odor and serve as chemical building blocks
2. Colorless, foul-smelling liquid bases belonging to the methylpyridine family, used as intermediates in manufacturing chemicals
3. Three closely related methyl derivatives of pyridine, oily organic bases employed in the production of other chemical substances

Etymology: "Picolines" is the plural of "picoline", a name for a family of foul-smelling organic bases built from a pyridine ring with a single methyl group attached. The word is a chemical coinage rather than an old folk term: "picoline" combines the Latin "pix" ("pitch"), reflecting the bitter, tarry substances from which these compounds were first isolated, with the chemical suffix "-ine," used for nitrogen-containing bases. The three possible isomers, which differ only in where the methyl group sits on the ring, are the reason the plural exists at all, since each is a distinct compound with its own name and properties.