nitrophenol

[ nahy-truh-fee-nawl, -nol ]

noun

, Chemistry.

1. any compound derived from phenol by the replacement of one or more of its ring hydrogen atoms by the nitro group.
2. any of three water-soluble, crystalline isomers of such a derivative, having the formula C 6 H 5 NO 3 , occurring in yellow ortho-nitrophenol, pale-yellow meta-nitrophenol, and yellowish para-nitrophenol solids, used chiefly as intermediates in organic synthesis and as indicators.

Word History and Origins

Origin of nitrophenol¹

First recorded in 1850–55; nitro- + phenol

Example Sentences

Hantzsch explains the transformation of the colourless acid into red salts, which on standing yield more stable, colourless salts, by the following scheme:— He has also shown that the nitrophenols yield, in addition to the colourless true nitrophenol ethers, an isomeric series of coloured unstable quinonoid aci-ethers, which have practically the same colour and yield the same absorption spectra as the coloured metallic salts.

From Project Gutenberg