quinone

[ kwi-nohn, kwin-ohn ]

nounChemistry.
  1. a yellow, crystalline, cyclic unsaturated diketone, C6H4O2, formed by oxidizing aniline or hydroquinone: used chiefly in photography and in tanning leather.

  2. any of a class of compounds of this type.

Origin of quinone

1
First recorded in 1850–55; quin(ic acid) + -one

Words Nearby quinone

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use quinone in a sentence

  • The gradation of color is quite pronounced in the case of selenonaphthene quinone.

  • Thus there is quinone itself, or benzoquinone, which is benzene with two atoms of oxygen replacing two atoms of hydrogen.

    Coal | Raphael Meldola
  • Phenanthrene forms a quinone which has been utilized as a source of colouring-matters, but these are comparatively unimportant.

    Coal | Raphael Meldola
  • The compound is readily prepared by the action of sulphurous acid or any other reducing agent on the quinone.

    Coal | Raphael Meldola
  • The so-called chrysophanic acid found in Xanthoria (Physcia) parietina is not an acid but a quinone and is better termed physcion.

British Dictionary definitions for quinone

quinone

/ (kwɪˈnəʊn, ˈkwɪnəʊn) /


noun
  1. another name for benzoquinone

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

Scientific definitions for quinone

quinone

[ kwĭ-nōn, kwĭnōn′ ]


  1. Any of a class of organic compounds that occur naturally as pigments in bacteria, plants, and certain fungi. Quinones have two carbonyl groups (CO) in an unsaturated six-member carbon ring.

  2. A yellow crystalline compound belonging to this class, used in photography, to make dyes and to tan hides. Chemical formula: C6H4O2.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.