alicyclic compound

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alicyclic compound

A chemist draws the structure of an alicyclic compound on a whiteboard.

Definition

Noun: * An organic compound that is both aliphatic (having properties similar to open-chain hydrocarbons) and cyclic (containing a ring of atoms). The ring is typically composed of carbon atoms, but unlike aromatic compounds (e.g., benzene), it does not have a continuous, overlapping ring of p-orbitals and exhibits properties closer to alkanes or alkenes.

Usage
  • The term classifies a major category of organic structures based on the type of carbon skeleton.
  • It is used to distinguish these saturated or unsaturated non-aromatic ring systems from purely open-chain (acyclic) aliphatic compounds and from aromatic compounds.
Examples
  • Cyclohexane is a simple .
  • The chemist synthesized a novel with a five-membered ring.
  • Many natural products, such as certain terpenes, contain in their structure.
Advanced Usage
  • Bridged and Fused Rings: Complex can include bridged ring systems (like norbornane) or fused rings (like decalin), where multiple rings share atoms.
  • Heterocyclic Analogues: While the classic definition involves carbon rings, the term is sometimes extended to non-aromatic rings containing heteroatoms (like oxygen or nitrogen) if their chemical behavior is aliphatic in nature.
Variants and Related Words
  • Alicyclic (adjective): Describing the characteristic of such compounds.
    • Example: "The molecule has an alicyclic ring system."
  • Cycloalkane (noun): A specific type of alicyclic compound where the ring contains only single bonds (saturated).
  • Cycloalkene (noun): A specific type of alicyclic compound containing at least one carbon-carbon double bond within the ring.
Different Meanings

This term has a single, specific meaning in the field of organic chemistry. It does not have common alternative definitions in general language.

Synonyms
  • Non-aromatic cyclic compound
  • Aliphatic cyclic compound
  • Carbocyclic compound (when specifying rings of only carbon atoms, and if non-aromatic)
Antonyms
  • Acyclic compound (open-chain compound)
  • Aromatic compound (e.g., benzene, pyridine)
Related Phrases / Collocations
  • Alicyclic ring: Refers specifically to the cyclic portion of the molecule.
    • Example: "The reactivity is determined by the strain in the alicyclic ring."
  • Alicyclic chemistry: The subfield of organic chemistry dealing with these compounds.
  • Saturated alicyclic compound: An alicyclic compound with only single bonds in the ring (a cycloalkane).
alicyclic compound

A chemist draws the structure of an alicyclic compound on a whiteboard.

Noun
  1. an aliphatic compound that contains a ring of atoms