Definition of "xanthate" []

• A salt of a xanthic acid, especially a simple xanthic acid salt, as of sodium or potassium, used as a flotation collector for copper, silver, and gold. (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.

• "- Toxic flotation reagents: those reagents most commonly used in small-scale mining in Latin America are sulfuric acid, diesel oil and long-chained carbon-hydroxides (frothers and collectors) such as xanthate."
• "'Viscose' silks obtained by spinning solutions of xanthate of cellulose."
• "The solution may be regarded as containing the ammonium cellulose xanthate."