LACTONE

Lactone

Lactones are usually named according to the precursor acid molecule, with a -lactone suffix and a Greek letter prefix that specifies the number of carbons in the heterocyle — that is, the distance between the relevant -OH and the -COOH groups along said backbone. The first carbon atom after the carbon in the -COOH group on the parent compound is labelled α, the second will be labeled β, and so forth. Therefore, the prefixes also indicate the size of the lactone ring: α-lactone = 3-membered ring, β-lactone = 4-membered, γ-lactone = 5-membered, etc.

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lactone

Noun

  1. A cyclic intramolecular ester derived from a hydroxy acid.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: lactone
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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