The Collaborative International Dictionary
Vicinal \Vic"i*nal\ (?; 277), a. [L. vicinalis: cf. F. vicinal.]
Near; vicine.
--T. Warton.-
(Organic Chem.) Having the substituted groups on the same carbon atom.
Vicinal planes (Min.), subordinate planes on a crystal, which are very near to the fundamental planes in angles, and sometimes take their place. They have in general very complex symbols.
Wiktionary
a. 1 Of or pertaining to a ''neighborhood''; neighboring. 2 (context chemistry English) Describing identical atoms or groups attached to nearby (especially adjacent) atoms in a molecule. 3 (context mineralogy English) Describing subordinate planes on a crystal, which are very near to the fundamental planes in angles, and sometimes take their place.
WordNet
adj. belonging to or limited to a vicinity
Wikipedia
Vicinal may refer to:
- Vicinal (chemistry), stands for any two functional groups bonded to two adjacent atoms.
- Vicinal (logology), a word where all letters have alphabetic neighbors.
- Vicinal tramway or Buurtspoor, a system of narrow gauge tramways or local railways in Belgium.
- In materials science, a "vicinal substrate" is a thin-film substrate whose surface normal deviates slightly from a major crystallographic axis.
In chemistry vicinal (from Latin vicinus = neighbor) describes any two functional groups bonded to two adjacent carbon atoms. For example, the molecule 2,3-dibromobutane carries two vicinal bromine atoms and 1,3-dibromobutane does not.
Likewise in a gem-dibromide the prefix gem, an abbreviation of geminal, signals that both bromine atoms are bonded to the same atom. For example, 1,1-dibromobutane is geminal.
Like other such concepts as syn, anti, exo or endo, the description vicinal helps explain how different parts of a molecule are related to each other either structurally or spatially. The vicinal adjective is sometimes restricted to those molecules with two identical functional groups. The term can also be extended to substituents on aromatic rings.
A vicinal is a logological term for a word where all its letters have "alphabetic neighbors". For instance, if a word has an "O" in it, to be a vicinal it must also have an "N" and/or a "P". If none of the letters have alphabetic neighbors, it is known as a nonvicinal.
Some vicinals:
- Blacksmith
- Documents
- Done
- Fights
- High
- On
- Sport
- This
Some nonvicinals:
- As
- In
- Intelligibility
- Lacqueying
- Mississippi
- Mortgage
- The
Some words that are neither:
- About
- Almanac
- Dictionary
- Times
- Wisconsin
Usage examples of "vicinal".
At an extremely fine level of structure in the brain, much of one’s past was contained, encoded in a unique complex network of synapses, microtubules, dimers and vicinal water and amino-acid chains, all small enough and near enough together to have quantum effects on each other.
At an extremely fine level of structure in the brain, much of one's past was contained, encoded in a unique complex network of synapses, microtubules, dimers and vicinal water and amino-acid chains, all small enough and near enough together to have quantum effects on each other.
And built of a stone that was indestructible save in the furace of suns, their cities rose beside those of the living like the prodigious metropoli of Titans, with walls that overgloom the vicinal villages.