diazomethane

American

[dahy-az-oh-meth-eyn, -ey-zoh-] / daɪˌæz oʊˈmɛθ eɪn, -ˌeɪ zoʊ- /

noun

Chemistry.

a yellow, odorless, toxic, explosive gas, CH 2 N 2 , used chiefly as a methylating agent and in organic synthesis.

diazomethane British

/ daɪˌeɪzəʊˈmiːθeɪn /

noun

a yellow odourless explosive gas, used as a methylating agent. Formula: CH 2 :N:N

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of diazomethane

diazo- + methane

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Some unofficial observers speculated that diazomethane, a gas used in making plastics, might have been spread around in some mysterious way.

From Time Magazine Archive

Well-dried hydroxylamine hydrochloride is dissolved in methyl alcohol and mixed with sodium methylate; a solution of methyldichloramine in absolute ether is then added and an ethereal solution of diazomethane distils over.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 4 "Diameter" to "Dinarchus" by Various

When luteic acid is treated with diazomethane, it yields the methyl ester of pentamethoxybiphenylmethylolidcarboxylic acid.

From Synthetic Tannins by Grasser, Georg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023