N-acylate
|N-a-cyl-ate|
/ɛnˈeɪsɪleɪt/
attach an acyl group to nitrogen
Etymology
'N-acylate' originates from a modern chemical formation combining the letter 'N' (denoting nitrogen) with the verb 'acylate' (formed from 'acyl' + the suffix '-ate'). 'Acyl' originates from New Latin/French (e.g. New Latin 'acylus', French 'acyle'), where 'acyl' referred to an acid-derived radical (i.e., the residue of an acid after loss of OH).
'Acyl' entered chemical nomenclature in the 19th century from French 'acyle' and New Latin forms; English formed the verb 'acylate' by adding the productive verb-forming suffix '-ate' to 'acyl'. The prefix 'N-' was later combined with 'acylate' to specify acylation at a nitrogen atom, producing the modern term 'N-acylate'.
Initially, 'acyl' referred generally to an acid-derived radical; over time the related verb 'acylate' came to mean 'attach an acyl group', and the compound term 'N-acylate' came to mean specifically 'attachment of an acyl group to nitrogen' or the product of that attachment.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
an N-acylated species; a compound in which a nitrogen atom carries an acyl group (often used to refer to the product of N-acylation).
The N-acylate was purified by column chromatography and characterized by NMR.
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Verb 1
to introduce (or to attach) an acyl group onto a nitrogen atom of an organic molecule (i.e., to acylate at nitrogen).
To protect the amine, researchers N-acylate the compound before the next step.
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Last updated: 2025/11/22 23:36