ACETYL

Syn. Acetyle. A name originally given to a hypothetical body, having the formula C 2 H 3 , and regarded by Berzelius as the radical of the acetates and their congeners. The acetyl of Gerhardt (C 2 H 3 O) is, however, according to that chemist, the true radical of the acetates. Williams on, in order to remove the confusion of terms occasioned by the application of the same name to compounds of different composition, proposed the title of othyl for the radical C 2 H 3 O.