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Definition of "carboxyl" [car•box•yl]

  • The univalent radical, COOH, the functional group characteristic of all organic acids. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "carboxyl" in a sentence
  • "Many of the compounds in asphalt are polar since they contain alcohol, carboxyl, phenolic, amine, thiol, and other functional groups."
  • "A xenobiotic that has undergone a Phase I reaction is now a new intermediate metabolite that contains a reactive chemical group, e.g., hydroxyl (- OH), amino (- NH2), and carboxyl (- COOH)."
  • "BTW, the system is not awfully wrong: the negative charge on the acidic carboxyl groups is to be expected."