An aromatic chemical compound formed by fusing a benzene ring to a thiophene ring (a five-membered ring containing sulfur).
From 'benzo-' (benzene ring) + 'thiophene' (five-membered ring with sulfur; 'thio-' from Greek theion meaning sulfur, plus '-phene'). Named in the early 1900s as organic chemists created systematic names for newly synthesized aromatic compounds.
Benzothiophene actually appears naturally in petroleum and coal tar, which is why petroleum researchers became familiar with it before it was extensively studied as a pharmaceutical and agricultural chemical—crude oil is basically a library of ancient organic chemistry.
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