benzene

See also: benzène

English

structural formula of benzene (a ring-shaped molecule composed of 6 carbon atoms and 6 hydrogen atoms)

Alternative forms

• benzine

Etymology

A technical term in chemistry, adopted in English in 1835 as benzine (benzene from 1872), from German Benzin, which was coined in 1833 by Eilhardt Mitscherlich based on Benzoesäure (“benzoic acid”), plus the technical ending -ene (German -in) denoting hydrocarbons. The adjective benzoic is in turn from benzoin, originally a term for a balsamic resin from Middle French benjoin, from Spanish benjuí, Portuguese beijoim, Italian benzoi, from Arabic لُبَان جَاوِيّ (lubān jāwiyy, “Javanese frankincense”). The initial lu was probably lost because it was taken as the definite article in Romance. Compare oliban.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɛnziːn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛnziːn

Noun

benzene (usually uncountable, plural benzenes)

1. (organic chemistry) An aromatic hydrocarbon of formula C₆H₆ whose structure consists of a ring of alternate single and double bonds.
   • 2013 July-August, Philip J. Bushnell, “Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance”, in American Scientist:

     Furthermore, this increase in risk is comparable to the risk of death from leukemia after long-term exposure to benzene, another solvent, which has the well-known property of causing this type of cancer.

2. (organic chemistry, in combination) Sometimes used in place of the phenyl group.

Derived terms

• alkylbenzene
• aminobenzene
• arsenobenzene
• azobenzene
• benz-
• benzeneamine
• benzeneazo
• benzeneazothiocarbonyl
• benzenecarboximidamide
• benzenecyclopentadienyliron
• benzenediamine
• benzenediazo
• benzenediazoate
• benzenediazonium
• benzenedicarbonyl
• benzenediol
• benzeneethanol
• benzenehexacarboxylic
• benzenehexoxide
• benzeneiron
• benzeneperoxyseleninic
• benzeneperoxysulfonic
• benzene ring
• benzeneruthenium
• benzeneseleninic
• benzeneselenonate
• benzeneselenonic
• benzenesulfinate
• benzenesulfinyl
• benzenesulfonate
• benzenesulfonic
• benzenesulfonic acid
• benzenesulfonyl
• benzenesulfonylhydrazide
• benzenesulfonylperoxosulfate
• benzenesulphonothioic
• benzenethiol
• benzenoid
• benzo-
• borabenzene
• bromobenzene
• butylbenzene
• chlorobenzene
• circumbenzene
• cyclohexylbenzene
• dehydrobenzene
• deuterobenzene
• dichlorobenzene
• diheterabenzene
• dimethoxybenzene
• dinitrobenzene
• dinitrochlorobenzene
• divinylbenzene
• ethenylbenzene
• ethylbenzene
• ethynylbenzene
• fluorobenzene
• halobenzene
• hexachlorobenzene
• hexadeuterobenzene
• hexaferrocenylbenzene
• hexafluorobenzene
• hexamethylbenzene
• hexanitrobenzene
• hydroxybenzene
• iodobenzene
• isopropylbenzene
• methoxybenzene
• methylbenzene
• monovinyl benzene
• nitrobenzene
• oxybenzene
• phenylbenzene
• radiobenzene
• superbenzene
• tetramethylbenzene
• trichlorobenzene
• trihydroxybenzene
• trimethylbenzene
• trinitrobenzene
• vinylbenzene

 

Translations

aromatic compound C₆H₆

• Arabic: بَنْزِين m (banzīn)
• Armenian: բենզոլ (hy) (benzol)
• Asturian: bencén m, bencenu m
• Belarusian: бензо́л m (bjenzól)
• Bulgarian: бензо́л m (benzól)
• Catalan: benzè m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 苯 (bun²)

  Mandarin: 苯 (zh) (běn)

• Czech: benzen m
• Danish: benzen c
• Dutch: benzeen (nl)
• Esperanto: benzeno (eo)
• Finnish: bentseeni (fi)
• French: benzène (fr) m
• Galician: benceno m
• Georgian: ბენზოლი (benzoli)
• German: Benzol (de) n
• Greek: βενζόλιο (el) n (venzólio), βενζόλη (el) f (venzóli)
• Hindi: धूपेन्य (dhūpenya)
• Hungarian: benzol (hu)
• Icelandic: bensen n, bensól n
• Ido: benzeno (io)
• Indonesian: benzena (id)
• Irish: beinséin f
• Italian: benzene (it) m, benzolo m
• Japanese: ベンゼン (ja) (benzen), ベンゾール (ja) (benzōru)
• Korean: 벤젠 (benjen), 벤졸 (benjol)
• Latvian: benzols
• Macedonian: бензен m (benzen)
• Malay: benzena (ms)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: benzen n

  Nynorsk: benzen n

• Persian: بنزن (fa) (banzen)
• Polish: benzen (pl) m
• Portuguese: benzeno (pt) m
• Romanian: benzen (ro) m
• Russian: бензо́л (ru) m (benzól)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бѐнзе̄н m, бѐнзо̄л m

  Roman: bènzēn (sh) m, bènzōl (sh) m

• Slovak: benzén m
• Slovene: benzén (sl) m
• Spanish: benceno m
• Swedish: bensen (sv)
• Tok Pisin: bensin
• Ukrainian: бензе́н m (benzén), бензо́л (uk) m (benzól)
• Urdu: بنزین (benzīn)
• Vietnamese: benzen
• Yiddish: בענזין m (benzin), בענזאָל m (benzol)

the phenyl group — see phenyl

See also

(ring-shaped molecule composed of 6 carbon atoms and 6 hydrogen atoms):

• cyclohexane
• cyclohexene
• cycloalkane
• cycloalkene
• cyclohexatriene

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /benˈd͡zɛ.ne/
• Rhymes: -ɛne
• Hyphenation: ben‧zè‧ne

Noun

benzene m (plural benzeni)

1. (organic chemistry) benzene