lactone

American  

[lak-tohn] / ˈlæk toʊn /

noun

Chemistry.

1. any of a group of internal esters derived from hydroxy acids.

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lactone British  

/ ˈlæktəʊn, lækˈtɒnɪk /

noun

1. any of a class of organic compounds formed from hydroxy acids and containing the group -C(CO)OC-, where the carbon atoms are part of a ring

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lactone Scientific  

/ lăk′tōn′ /

1. Any of various organic esters derived from organic acids by removal of water. Lactones are formed when the carboxyl (COOH) group of the acid reacts with a hydroxyl (OH) group in the same acid, releasing water and causing the carbon atom to join to the hydroxyl's remaining oxygen atom, forming a ring. Vitamin C, the antibiotic erythromycin, and many commercially important substances are lactones.

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Other Word Forms

• lactonic adjective

Etymology

Origin of lactone

First recorded in 1840–50; lact- + -one

Example Sentences

Acyl-homoserine lactone acylase from Ralstonia strain XJ12B represents a novel and potent class of quorum-quenching enzymes.

From Nature

In dogs experimentally infected with two different heartworm isolates taken from suspected lack-of-efficacy cases from the Delta region, the parasites survived repeated treatment with a macrocyclic lactone.

From Nature

"American oak has lactone levels certainly not found in French oak," Boswell says.

From Scientific American

But by the 1970s it was known that the lethal chemical, first called qinghaosu and now artemisinin, had a structure never seen before in nature: In chemical terms, it is a sesquiterpene lactone with a peroxide bridge.

From New York Times

The cyanhydrin is hydrolysable to an acid, the lactone of which may be reduced by sodium amalgam to a glucoheptose, a non-fermentable sugar containing seven carbon atoms.

From Project Gutenberg