A highly reactive chemical species containing a carbon atom with two unpaired electrons, used in organic synthesis and important in many chemical reactions.
From 'carb-' (carbon) and '-ene' (indicating an unsaturated hydrocarbon or reactive species). The term was coined in mid-20th-century organic chemistry.
Carbenes are so reactive they often only exist for fractions of a second in a lab, but they're powerful enough to transform almost any molecule they encounter—they're like the molecular equivalent of a wrecking ball!
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