The Collaborative International Dictionary
Mercaptan \Mer*cap"tan\, n. [F., fr. NL. mercurius mercury + L. captans, p. pr. of captare to seize, v. intens. fr. capere.] (Chem.) Any one of series of compounds having an -SH radical attached to a carbon atom, also considered as hydrosulphides of alcohol radicals, in composition resembling the alcohols, but containing sulphur in place of oxygen, and hence called also the sulphur alcohols. In general, they are colorless liquids having a strong, repulsive, garlic odor. The name is specifically applied to ethyl mercaptan, C2H5SH. So called from its avidity for mercury, and other metals.
Wiktionary
n. (context chemistry English) Any of a class of organic compounds of sulphur, ( R1.S.R2 ); they tend to be foul-smelling. When R2 is a hydrogen atom, they are termed thiols or thioalcohols.
Wikipedia
Usage examples of "mercaptan".
Butyl mercaptan sallied forth to meet and mingle with blue noisome clouds of smoke.
It being a mercaptan, completely non-toxic in small dosess ass you know, we may ssimply releasse it without sslowing the game down by wearing masskss and handicapping the Hokass.
Karuza snarled and went over to the mercaptan generator and opened the valves wide.
For the stream of mercaptan vapor was still flowing past the pitcher and all three balls wove a daisy chain past the plate!
An average man can detect just a few molecules of butyl mercaptan, and most of us can sense the presence of musk in vanishingly small amounts.
There was butyl mercaptan and rotten celery, excrement, formic acid, decayed meat, and that certain smell which is like the taste of some brasses.
He only called a halt when the crumbled towers of Mercaptan appeared ahead.
One diversion used is to release a harmless chemical known as butyl mercaptan into the air.
These meat factories release deadly gases such as sulfide, ammonia, methyl mercaptan, methyl sulfides, particulate matter, and airborne animal allergens that cause a range of illnesses, including severe respiratory problems, gastrointestinal diseases, eye infections, nosebleeds, nausea, miscarriage, and psychological problems.
On the monitor a chart appeared, giving the results from the analysis: bile pigments, stercobilin, urobilin, indole, nitrates, skatole, mercaptans, hydrogen sulfide.
There were obnoxious smells such as ketones and mercaptans, and dangerous ones such as benzene and toluene and other aromatic hydrocarbons.
On the monitor a chart appeared, giving the results from the analysis: bile pigments, stercobilin, urobilin, indole, nitrates, skatole, mercaptans, hydrogen sulfide.
There were obnoxious smells such as ketones and mercaptans, and dangerous ones such as benzene and toluene and other aromatic hydrocarbons.
Especially when it's realized that he was the man who developed the strain of scavengers that secrete this modified butyl mercaptan that turns men into paras!
More, they had suddenly regained an invisible aversion to the smell of butyl mercaptan -- even a modified butyl mercaptan -- and it was promptly discovered that no normal who had smelled wood-smoke became a para.