propionic acid


nounChemistry, Pharmacology.
  1. a colorless, oily, water-soluble liquid, C3H6O2, having a pungent odor: used in making bread-mold-inhibiting propionates, in perfumery, and in medicine as a topical fungicide.

Origin of propionic acid

1
First recorded in 1850–55

Words Nearby propionic acid

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How to use propionic acid in a sentence

  • propionic acid is formed at the same time as the eyes, and they are said to be the result of a propionic ferment of lactic acid.

    The Book of Cheese | Charles Thom and Walter Warner Fisk
  • This reaction is caused by the tyrosine group (p. oxy α amido phenyl-propionic acid).

    Animal Proteins | Hugh Garner Bennett
  • When fused with an alkali, it forms propionic acid; with biomine it yields αβ-dibromisobutyric acid.

British Dictionary definitions for propionic acid

propionic acid

/ (ˌprəʊpɪˈɒnɪk) /


noun
  1. the former name for propanoic acid

Origin of propionic acid

1
C19: from Greek pro- first + pionic from piōn fat, because it is first in order of the fatty acids

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for propionic acid

propionic acid

[ prō′pē-ŏnĭk ]


  1. A liquid fatty acid found naturally in sweat and milk products and as a product of bacterial fermentation. It is also prepared synthetically from ethanol and carbon monoxide, and is used chiefly in the form of its propionates as a mold inhibitor in bread and as an ingredient in perfume. Chemical formula: C3H6O2.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.