Silacyclanes

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Chemical compounds composed of a ring structure containing silicon atoms bonded with carbon or other elements
2. Molecules featuring cyclic arrangements where silicon atoms form part of the ring framework
3. Rings of atoms in which silicon is incorporated as a key element in the cyclic structure

Etymology: The word is a plain systematic chemical name, built from a prefix, a root and a suffix, and its most surprising part is the element at its core. "Silicon" was coined in 1817 by the Scottish chemist Thomas Thomson, who based it on Latin "silex," meaning flint, and gave it the "-on" ending he shared with carbon and boron. The chemist Humphry Davy had earlier proposed "silicium" in 1808, and Thomson's form won out in English. The "sila-" prefix comes from that element. In replacement nomenclature, chemists mark a carbon atom swapped for silicon by using "sila-" in front of the parent name, so "silacyclane" describes a ring compound in which a silicon atom takes the place of a carbon atom. The second part, "cyclane," is a shortened form of "cycloalkane," a saturated hydrocarbon arranged in a ring. "Cyclo-" comes from Greek "kyklos," meaning circle or ring, and "-ane" is the standard suffix for saturated hydrocarbons. The word is therefore a compound of three parts, each from a different source, and the ring idea appears in the Greek root.