What does "mercapto-" mean?

an organosulfur compound that contains a carbon-bonded sulfhydryl or sulphydryl

What is a synonym for "mercapto-"?

Common synonyms include: thiol.

How do you pronounce "mercapto-"?

Pronounced //məɹˈkæptoː//.

Mercapto-

//məɹˈkæptoː// prefix

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Definitions

Prefix

1
an organosulfur compound that contains a carbon-bonded sulfhydryl or sulphydryl morpheme

Synonyms

All synonyms

thiol

Etymology

The term mercaptan was introduced in 1832 by the Danish chemist William Christopher Zeise and is derived from the Latin mercurium captāns (capturing mercury) because the thiolate group bonds very strongly with mercury compounds.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.