Plural of carbonyl; multiple chemical compounds or functional groups each containing a carbon atom double-bonded to oxygen.
Plural form of carbonyl, which combines carbon + -yl (a functional group suffix denoting a radical). The term was systematized in organic chemistry during the 1800s.
Carbonyls are so common in chemistry that studying them is like studying vowels in English—you can barely talk about organic molecules without them. They're in everything from sugar to cocaine to the aspirin in your medicine cabinet.
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