What is "picene"

Picene \Pi"cene\, n. [See Piceous.] (Chem.) A hydrocarbon (C?H?) extracted from the pitchy residue of coal tar and petroleum as a bluish fluorescent crystalline substance.

n. (context organic compound English) A polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon consisting of five fused benzene rings; an isomer of pentacene.

Picene is a hydrocarbon found in the pitchy residue obtained in the distillation of peat tar and of petroleum. This is distilled to dryness and the distillate repeatedly recrystallized from cymene. It may be synthetically prepared by the action of anhydrous aluminium chloride on a mixture of naphthalene and 1,2-dibromoethane, or by distilling a-dinaphthostilbene. It crystallizes in large colorless plates which possess a blue fluorescence. It is soluble in concentrated sulfuric acid with a green color. Chromic acid in glacial acetic acid solution oxidizes it to picene- quinone, picene-quinone carboxylic acid, and finally to phthalic acid.

When intercalated with potassium or rubidium and cooled to below 18 K, picene has been reported to exhibit superconductive properties. However, due to the apparent inability to reproduce this work, the superconducting nature of doped picene has been met with heavy scepticism.

Picene may refer to:

• picene, a hydrocarbon
• Picene, a modern ethnonym for a resident of ancient Picenum in Italy, also found in the plural as Picentes or Picentini; thus:
  • an extinct language spoken by Picenes:
    • North Picene language
    • South Picene language