ACRYLONITRILE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does acrylonitrile mean? 

• ACRYLONITRILE (noun)
  The noun ACRYLONITRILE has 1 sense:

1. a colorless liquid unsaturated nitrile made from propene

  Familiarity information: ACRYLONITRILE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ACRYLONITRILE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A colorless liquid unsaturated nitrile made from propene

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

acrylonitrile; propenonitrile; vinyl cyanide

Hypernyms ("acrylonitrile" is a kind of...):

cyanide; nitril; nitrile (any of a class of organic compounds containing the cyano radical -CN)

 Context examples 

Acrylonitrile is widely used in industry to produce rubber, resins, plastics, elastomers and synthetic fibers and to manufacture carbon fibers used in aircraft, defense and aerospace industries.

(Acrylonitrile, NCI Thesaurus)

Being exposed to acrylonitrile may increase the risk of developing certain cancers, such as lung, brain, or prostate cancer.

(Acrylonitrile, NCI Dictionary)

Acrylonitrile molecules could come together as a sheet of material similar to a cell membrane.

(NASA Finds Moon of Saturn Has Chemical That Could Form ‘Membranes’, NASA)

Exposure to acrylonitrile irritates the mucous membranes and causes a headache, nausea, dizziness, impaired judgment, difficulty breathing, limb weakness, cyanosis, convulsions and collapse.

(Acrylonitrile, NCI Thesaurus)

On Earth, acrylonitrile, also known as vinyl cyanide, is useful in the manufacture of plastics.

(NASA Finds Moon of Saturn Has Chemical That Could Form ‘Membranes’, NASA)

Acrylonitrile is reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen and may be associated with an increased risk of developing lung and prostate cancer.

(Acrylonitrile, NCI Thesaurus)

Now, NASA researchers have identified the chemical fingerprint of acrylonitrile in Titan data collected by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile.

(NASA Finds Moon of Saturn Has Chemical That Could Form ‘Membranes’, NASA)

NASA scientists have definitively detected the chemical acrylonitrile in the atmosphere of Saturn’s moon Titan, a place that has long intrigued scientists investigating the chemical precursors of life.

(NASA Finds Moon of Saturn Has Chemical That Could Form ‘Membranes’, NASA)

Other researchers have previously suggested that acrylonitrile is an ingredient of Titan’s atmosphere, but they did not report an unambiguous detection of the chemical in the smorgasbord of organic, or carbon-rich, molecules found there.

(NASA Finds Moon of Saturn Has Chemical That Could Form ‘Membranes’, NASA)