Definition of "guanidine" [gua•ni•dine]

• A strongly alkaline crystalline compound, NHC(NH2)2, formed by the oxidation of guanine and found in the urine as a normal product of protein metabolism. It is commonly used in the organic synthesis of plastics, resins, and explosives. (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.

• "And so that's the project that I pursued for that year, and it's continuing now as well, and found that a specific purine derivative called guanidine had inhibited the cell growth by approximately 60 percent."
• "Preferred modifiers include NaOH, urea sodium dodecyl sulfate, sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate, and guanidine hydrochloride."
• "In the presence of guanidine, viral RNA is not synthesized, and it has been believed that guanidine acts in some manner on the viral RNA-replicase."