dealkylated
|de-alk-yl-at-ed|
/diːˈælkɪleɪtɪd/
(dealkylate)
remove an alkyl group
Etymology
'dealkylated' ultimately comes from the verb 'dealkylate', formed by the prefix 'de-' (from Latin 'de-' meaning 'remove' or 'down') plus 'alkylate' (from 'alkyl' + '-ate'), where 'alkyl' is a chemical term derived historically from 'alcohol' with the suffix '-yl' used for radicals.
'alkyl' developed in 19th-century chemical nomenclature from 'alcohol' + the radical-forming suffix '-yl'; this produced 'alkyl' and then verbs like 'alkylate'; adding the prefix 'de-' produced 'dealkylate', and the regular past/past-participle form became 'dealkylated'.
Initially coined to denote the radical or group related to alcohols ('alkyl'), the combination 'dealkylate' and its form 'dealkylated' have come to mean specifically 'to remove an alkyl group', a usage that has remained stable in organic chemistry.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Verb 1
past tense or past participle form of 'dealkylate' (to remove an alkyl group from a molecule).
During metabolism, the drug was dealkylated by hepatic enzymes.
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Adjective 1
having had an alkyl group removed (often used to describe a chemical compound after the removal of an alkyl substituent).
The dealkylated product showed reduced lipophilicity compared with the parent compound.
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Last updated: 2026/01/02 06:29