azulene Chem.
(ˈæzjʊliːn)
[f. Sp. azul blue + -ene.]
A liquid hydrocarbon, blue in colour, found in some volatile oils; = cerulein.
The term is used to cover not only the parent hydrocarbon but the class of derivatives with the same basic structure, viz. a five-ring joined to a seven-ring, isomeric with naphthalene, which has two six-rings joined together.
| 1874 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. XXVII. 1 Pure oil of wormwood (obtained from Dr. Septimus Piesse) being submitted to distillation, the greater part passed over..close upon 200°, a portion of blue oily product being obtained at a higher temperature (the azulene of Piesse and cœruleïn of Gladstone). 1880 [see cerulein]. 1956 Nature 21 Jan. 145/2 In the fractionation of hydrocarbons found in Copaiba balsam, we have isolated..a compound with the typical reactions of azulenes, and which we propose to call ‘cario⁓azulene’. |