mercaptan

American  

[mer-kap-tan] / mərˈkæp tæn /

noun

Chemistry.

1. any of a class of sulfur-containing compounds having the type formula RSH, in which R represents a radical, and having an extremely offensive, garlicky odor.

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mercaptan British  

/ mɜːˈkæptæn /

noun

1. another name (not in technical usage) for thiol

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mercaptan Scientific  

/ mər-kăp′tăn′ /

1. See thiol

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Etymology

Origin of mercaptan

1825–35; < Latin, short for phrase corpus mercurium captāns body capturing quicksilver

Example Sentences

Piedmont Natural Gas said the cleanup company, Legacy Environmental Services, was destroying mercaptan tanks north of downtown Charlotte that were mistakenly reported as empty, The Charlotte Observer reported.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 14, 2022

The CAA has also ordered the gas companies to add the pungent ethyl mercaptan to the gas cylinders to make it easier to smell gas leaks.

From Reuters • Dec. 8, 2021

A nontoxic odorant inserted into methane called mercaptan drew “comparisons to rotting cabbage, smelly gym socks or rotten eggs.”

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 22, 2021

Ms. Clayton-Tarvin talked about the area’s layout of gas lines, the trajectory of the smell’s spread and her sense in the odor of a hint of mercaptan — a natural gas additive.

From New York Times • Dec. 16, 2016

An average man can detect just a few molecules of butyl mercaptan, and most of us can sense the presence of musk in vanishingly small amounts.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas