A chemical radical or functional group derived from adipic acid, used in organic chemistry.
From adipic acid (itself derived from adeps, Latin for 'fat,' because it was originally obtained from animal fat) + -yl (suffix denoting a chemical radical). Adipic acid was named this way because early chemists produced it by oxidizing fats.
Adipyl groups are building blocks in polymer chemistry—they're crucial in making nylon and polyurethane, so every nylon stocking and foam cushion contains adipyl molecules created by chemists following patterns discovered in oxidized animal fats.
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