enol

American  

[ee-nawl, ee-nol] / ˈi nɔl, ˈi nɒl /

noun

Chemistry.

1. an organic compound containing a hydroxyl group attached to a doubly linked carbon atom, as in >C=C(OH)−.

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enol British  

/ ˈiːnɒl /

noun

1. any organic compound containing the group -CH:CO-, often existing in chemical equilibrium with the corresponding keto form See keto-enol tautomerism

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Other Word Forms

• enolic adjective

Etymology

Origin of enol

1935–40; apparently < Greek ( h ) én one (neuter) + -ol ¹

Example Sentences

His colleague Jerry Donohue then pointed out that he was using the molecular structures of the enol isomers of the bases, which cannot form the hydrogen bonds necessary for base-pairing.

From Nature • Oct. 8, 2019

Here there was no doubt that the keto form, not the enol, was present.

From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson

He was just as sure that thymine was also wrongly assigned an enol configuration.

From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson

My immediate retort that several other texts also pictured guanine and thymine in the enol form cut no ice with Jerry.

From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson

Todd also went along with the keto configurations, saying that his organic-chemist friends had drawn enol groups for purely arbitrary reasons.

From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson