ScienceAugust 17, 2026

acetylene

uh-SET-uh-leen

Definition

A colorless, highly flammable hydrocarbon gas commonly used as a chemical building block in industrial synthesis.

Etymology

Derived from the French word 'acétylène', coined by chemist Marcellin Berthelot in the mid-19th century by combining 'acetyl' with the suffix '-ene', used to denote a double bond in organic chemistry.

In the news

The article discusses a specific chemical process called semihydrogenation, which involves modifying acetylene, a foundational substance in catalytic research.

Author Correction: Breaking the activity-selectivity trade-off for acetylene semihydrogenation by Pd2 dual-atom site

Read the full article ↗

Nature

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