丁烯 (dīngxī): butene

Meanings

1 butene
2 butylene (C₄H₈, an alkene used in plastics manufacturing)

Characters

丁

dīng

fourth heavenly stem (= 4 carbons in chemistry)

烯

xī

alkene (organic compound suffix, with C=C bond)

Examples

丁烯是生产合成橡胶的重要原料。

Dīngxī shì shēngchǎn héchéng xiàngjiāo de zhòngyào yuánliào.

Butene is an important raw material for producing synthetic rubber.

这家化工厂主要生产乙烯和丁烯。

Zhè jiā huàgōngchǎng zhǔyào shēngchǎn yǐxī hé dīngxī.

This chemical plant mainly produces ethylene and butene.

Tips

memory

Chinese organic chemistry uses heavenly stems for carbon counts: 甲 (1C methane), 乙 (2C ethane), 丙 (3C propane), 丁 (4C butane). 烯 marks alkenes (with C=C double bond). So 丁烯 = '4-carbon alkene' = butene. Once you learn the system, the names self-decode: 乙烯 ethylene, 丙烯 propylene, 戊烯 pentene…