mercaptan

See also: Mercaptan

English

	A user suggests that this English entry be cleaned up, giving the reason: “{{coin}} and all that should be moved to a new Danish entry, and the definition line is encyclopedic”.
	Please see the discussion on Requests for cleanup(+) for more information and remove this template after the problem has been dealt with.

Etymology

Borrowed from German Mercaptan, from Danish mercaptan; coined by organic chemist William Christopher Zeise in 1832 from mer(curius) (“mercury”) +‎ captan(s) (“capturing”), because the thiolate group bonds very strongly with mercury compounds.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /məˈkapt(ə)n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /mɚˈkæpt(ə)n/

This entry needs an audio pronunciation. If you are a native speaker with a microphone, please record this word. The recorded pronunciation will appear here when it's ready.

Noun

mercaptan (plural mercaptans)

1. (chemistry) Any of a class of organic compounds of sulphur, ( R₁.S.R₂ ); they tend to be foul-smelling. When R₂ is a hydrogen atom, they are termed thiols or thioalcohols.
   • 2022 April 25, AlfredCamera, “Spotting Gas Leak Symptoms and Staying Safe”, in Home Security Expert‎:

     Though this might come as a surprise, gas actually has no odor; gas companies are obligated to odorize it to make it safer for use in homes.
     
     Mercaptan, a harmless chemical, is added to create the distinct smell in both natural gas (methane) and liquid petroleum gas (propane, butane).

Derived terms

• ethyl mercaptan
• mercaptoundecanoic
• mercapturic
• methyl mercaptan
• phenyl mercaptan
• polymercaptan

Translations

sulphuric compound

Czech: sulfid (cs) m, sirník m (obsolete) French: mercaptan (fr) m German: Mercaptan n Italian: mercaptano (it) m Spanish: mercaptano m

See also

• mercapto

French

Etymology

Ultimately from Danish mercaptan, which see.

Noun

mercaptan m (plural mercaptans)

1. (chemistry) mercaptan

Further reading

• “mercaptan”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French mercaptan.

Noun

mercaptan m (plural mercaptani)

1. mercaptan

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	mercaptan	mercaptanul		mercaptani	mercaptanii
genitive-dative	mercaptan	mercaptanului		mercaptani	mercaptanilor
vocative	mercaptanule			mercaptanilor