Chem. [f. ACETYL + Gr. -ηνη female descendant, weaker derivative: see -ENE.] A gaseous hydrocarbon C2H2,=HC=CH, also called Ethine, interesting as being producible by the direct combination of carbon and hydrogen at a high temperature, and of forming by further syntheses more complex carbon compounds, thus rendering possible the artificial preparation of organic substances from their simple elements.
1864. H. Spencer, Biology, I. 8. With the exception of acetylene, the various hydro-carbons are not producible by directly combining their elements.
1869. Roscoe, Elem. Chem., 95. Acetylene is a colourless gas, which burns with a bright luminous flame, and possesses a disagreeable and very peculiar odour; it is produced in all cases of incomplete combustion, and its smell may be noticed when a candle burns with a smoky flame.
1873. Watts, Fownes’ Chem., I. 559. Ethine or Acetylene is one of the constituents of coal gas. Ibid. (1877), II. 1. Recently it has been shown that ethine or acetylene, C2H2, can be produced by the direct combination of carbon and hydrogen; that this compound can be made to take up two additional atoms of hydrogen to form [olefiant gas, or] ethene C2H4; and that this … can be converted into alcohol, C2H6O, a body formerly supposed to be producible only by the fermentation of sugar.
