A four-membered carbon ring hydrocarbon, the smallest cycloalkane that exists as a stable molecule.
Cyclo- (Greek kyklos, 'circle') + butane (from butyl, meaning four carbons). Named systematically for its four-carbon ring structure in 19th-century chemical nomenclature.
Cyclobutane is chemically interesting because it's so 'stressed'—its 90-degree ring angles are way off from the ideal 109.5 degrees for carbon, making it strained and reactive, which chemists exploit to make it burst open and create other molecules.
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