Word.ws English Dictionary

mercaptan

UK/məˈkapt(ə)n/US/mɚˈkæpt(ə)n/

mercaptan noun: any of a class of organic compounds of sulphur, ( R-SH ) where R represents an alkyl or other organic substituent. They tend to be foul-smelling. They are also termed thiols or thioalcohols.

Noun

mercaptan (plural mercaptans)

  1. Any of a class of organic compounds of sulphur, ( R-SH ) where R represents an alkyl or other organic substituent. They tend to be foul-smelling. They are also termed thiols or thioalcohols.
    • Though this might come as a surprise, gas actually has no odor; gas companies are obligated to odorize it to make it safer for use in homes.
      Mercaptan, a harmless chemical, is added to create the distinct smell in both natural gas (methane) and liquid petroleum gas (propane, butane).2022 April 25, AlfredCamera, “Spotting Gas Leak Symptoms and Staying Safe”, in Home Security Expert

Forms of mercaptan

pluralmercaptans

Origin of mercaptan

Borrowed from German Mercaptan, from Danish mercaptan; coined by organic chemist William Christopher Zeise in 1832 from mer(curius) (“mercury”) + captan(s) (“capturing”), because the thiolate group bonds very strongly with mercury compounds.

Words formed from mercaptan

Words that rhyme with mercaptan

Questions about mercaptan

What does mercaptan mean?
Mercaptan means any of a class of organic compounds of sulphur, ( R-SH ) where R represents an alkyl or other organic substituent. They tend to be foul-smelling. They are also termed thiols or thioalcohols.
What part of speech is mercaptan?
Mercaptan is a noun.
How do you pronounce mercaptan?
Mercaptan is pronounced /məˈkapt(ə)n/ (UK).
What is the plural of mercaptan?
The plural of mercaptan is mercaptans.

Words near mercaptan in the dictionary

  1. mercantility
  2. mercaptal
  3. mercaptalbumin
  4. mercaptals
  5. mercaptamine
  6. mercaptan
  7. mercaptans
  8. mercaptide
  9. mercaptides
  10. mercapto
  11. mercapto protease

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: mercaptan (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “mercaptan.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mercaptan. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.