An organic compound formed when a cyano group and a hydroxyl group are attached to the same carbon atom, important in synthetic chemistry.
From cyano- (Greek kyanos 'dark blue') + hydrin (from hydro- 'water', referring to the hydroxyl group -OH). This technical term arose in 19th-century organic chemistry as chemists classified new compound structures.
Cyanohydrins are useful because they're a gateway to making amino acids, which your body needs to build every protein—chemists use them as shortcuts in drug and food ingredient manufacturing.
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