auxochromism
|aux-o-chro-mism|
🇺🇸
/ˌɔksəˈkroʊmɪzəm/
🇬🇧
/ˌɔːksəˈkrəʊmɪzəm/
color-modifying effect
Etymology
'auxochromism' originates from New Latin/Greek elements: Greek 'auxo-' (from 'auxein') meaning 'to increase' and 'chroma' meaning 'color', plus the English suffix '-ism' forming a noun meaning 'state or condition'.
'auxochrome' was coined in chemical nomenclature (19th century) from Greek components 'auxo-' + 'chroma' to denote groups that modify color; the modern English noun 'auxochromism' was formed later by adding '-ism' to denote the phenomenon or property.
Initially used to refer specifically to groups that 'increase' or modify a chromophore's color/intensity; it evolved to denote the broader phenomenon or measurable effect (shifts in wavelength and intensity) associated with those groups.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
the property or effect by which an auxochrome (a substituent group) alters the absorption characteristics of a chromophore, changing color (wavelength shifts such as bathochromic or hypsochromic) and/or intensity (hyperchromic or hypochromic effects).
auxochromism can produce a bathochromic shift in a dye's absorption maximum.
Synonyms
Noun 2
in spectroscopy and dye chemistry, the measurable change (shift or intensity change) in an absorption spectrum that results from introduction or modification of auxochromic groups.
Researchers measured the auxochromism caused by different substituents on the aromatic ring.
Synonyms
Last updated: 2025/11/30 06:04