the.com/aldehyde
the molecule that smells like cinnamon, almonds, and the hangover you regret.
means An aldehyde is an organic compound bearing a carbonyl group (C=O) with a hydrogen attached, the family responsible for many sharp, fruity, or pungent smells and a notorious step on alcohol's path through the body.
from The name is a contraction of the Latin phrase alcohol dehydrogenatum — 'alcohol deprived of hydrogen' — because chemists made aldehydes by stripping hydrogen from alcohols. The coinage is credited to the German chemist Justus von Liebig in the 19th century, who squeezed that whole Latin description down into one tidy word. So the very name encodes the chemistry: take an alcohol, pull out hydrogen, and you've got an aldehyde.
- booze byproduct
- Acetaldehyde causes much of your hangover misery
- smell merchant
- Cinnamon and vanilla flavors are aldehydes
- toxic cousin
- Formaldehyde preserves corpses and irritates lungs
- reactive end
- That dangling CHO group craves chemical trouble
- perfume revolution
- Chanel No. 5 made aldehydes glamorous in 1921
formaldehyde — most common aldehyde, used in embalming fluids and industrial production worldwide
acetaldehyde — intermediate in ethanol metabolism, produced when the body breaks down alcoholic drinks
benzaldehyde — aromatic aldehyde with almond scent, extracted from bitter almond oil and apricot pits