Dioxin

Quick meaning: Dioxin is a noun meaning (countable, organic chemistry) The unsaturated six-membered heterocycle having four carbon atoms, two oxygen atoms, and two double bonds (molecular formula C₄H₄O₂); 1,2-dioxin and 1,4-dioxin.

Meaning

(countable, organic chemistry) The unsaturated six-membered heterocycle having four carbon atoms, two oxygen atoms, and two double bonds (molecular formula C₄H₄O₂); 1,2-dioxin and 1,4-dioxin.

More Meanings

1. (countable, organic chemistry) The parent compound dibenzo-1,4-dioxin or dibenzo-p-dioxin (molecular formula C₁₂H₈O₂), in which two benzene rings are connected through two oxygen atoms; dibenzodioxin, oxanthrene.
2. (countable, organic chemistry) Any of a broad range of toxic or carcinogenic halogenated polycyclic compounds that occur as byproducts of herbicides.

Example Sentences

The detection of dioxin (specifically, the 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-pdioxin TCDD) in 2,4,5-T raised the question whether dioxin might be present in other herbicides.

Dioxins are not a single chemical. They are a family of chemicals that contain two benzene rings connected by a pair of oxygen molecules. When chlorine atoms are connected to the benzene rings, we have a chlorinated dioxin. The particular chlorinated dioxin of greatest interest and concern is 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (generally abbreviated TCDD).

Dioxin is a specific organic unsaturated non-antiaromatic six-membered ring compound with a chemical formula of C4H4O2. However, the term dioxin is used generically by most authorities to include chlorinated dioxins with furans and many derivative compounds as a complex of at least 75 ubiquitous and environmentally persistent organochlorine compounds, of variable toxicity.

EPA [the Environmental Protection Agency] characterizes 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) as a Human Carcinogen based on weight of evidence and characterizes other dioxins, furans, and PCBs [polychlorinated biphenyls] as Likely Human Carcinogens. The toxicity of all of the dioxin, furan, and PCB congeners considered in this analysis is based on the toxicity of the most highly characterized congener, 2,3,7,8-TCDD [...].

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include dioxane, dibenzodioxin, dioxete, dioxetane, dioxepine, dioxepane.

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