Sulfating

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The process of forming sulfate compounds, often through chemical reactions involving sulfur
2. The act of treating or reacting a substance with sulfuric acid or other sulfur-containing chemicals
3. The conversion of materials into sulfates, which can occur in various industrial and environmental contexts

Etymology: The most striking detail here is a date and a name: the chemist L. B. G. de Morveau first used "sulfate" in 1787, not for a salt at all but as shorthand for "sulfuric acid," which chemists of the time called "acidum sulphatum." The modern meaning of the stem came later, as the name was attached to the salts made from that acid. The chain of descent runs through Latin "sulphur," which gave New Latin "sulphatum," and then French "sulfate," before English took it up. The spelling "sulfur" is the modern form of the same root, and the "sulph-" spelling survives in British usage. The suffix "-ate" marks a salt or ester, so the stem names a sulfur-based compound with an oxygen-rich group attached. "Sulfating" is the form of the verb "sulfate," built by adding "-ate" to "sulfur" and then taking "-ing" to describe the action. In chemistry, the verb describes adding sulfuric acid or a sulfur-containing reagent to a substance, so the word follows the earlier sense of the acid rather than the salt.

Synonyms: sulfation, sulphonation, sulfide formation, sulfide production, sulfurization