-yne
Hydrocarbons containing a triple bond.
[Latin feminine form -ina.]
These are systematic names of open-chain (aliphatic) hydrocarbons that contain carbon-carbon triple bonds; they are named by replacing the -ane ending of the equivalent saturated hydrocarbon (see -ane1) with -yne. Examples include ethyne (common name acetylene), butyne, and propyne (common name allylene). The general term for a member of the series, with formula CnHn-2, is alkyne. A polyyne is an organic compound containing two or more carbon-carbon triple bonds. See also -ene1.
Visit Michael Quinion’s World Wide Words site for 2000+ articles on English!
Copyright © Michael Quinion 2008–. All rights reserved. Page last updated 2 July 2009.
Your comments are very welcome.