Go to 'thermo-' entry Go to 'dino-' entry Go to 'chondro-' entry Go to 'aero-' entry Go to '-logy' entry Go to 'thaumato-' entry Go to 'nano-' entry Go to '-sophy' entry Go to 'bucco-' entry Go to '-ism' entry Go to '-lysis' entry Go to 'galacto-' entry Go to '-anthropy' entry Go to 'pneumo-' entry Go to '-ploitation' entry Go to '-lithic' entry Go to '-sepalous' entry Go to 'onco-' entry Go to '-parous' entry Go to 'dermato-' entry Go to 'multi-' entry Go to 'dodeca-' entry Go to '-zoon' entry Go to 'vermi-' entry Go to 'crystallo-' entry Go to 'biblio-' entry Go to 'eco-' entry Go to 'juxta-' entry Go to 'facio-' entry
Affixes: the building blocks of English
Affixes: the building blocks of English
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mercapto-

The chemical radical —SH.

[English mercaptan, an abbreviation of modern Latin mercurium captans, capturing mercury.]

The mercaptans (also called thiols; see thio-) are a group of organic compounds containing this radical, analogous to the organic alcohols (such as methyl mercaptan or methanethiol, CH3SH); frequently they have powerful smells. The drug mercaptopurine is used to prevent the growth of cancer cells, especially in leukaemia; mercaptobenzthiazole is a fungicide.

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