Encyclopedia >  Science and Technology  >  Chemistry  >  Organic Chemistry

ammoniac

ammoniac or gum ammoniac (əmōˈnēăkˌ) [key], yellowish substance with a sickening, bitter taste, obtained from the milky exudate of the injured stem of a plant ( Dorema ammoniacum ) found in Iran, India, and S Siberia. It is a gum resin, soluble in alcohol and ether. It is used in industry in the manufacture of porcelain cements and in medicine as an expectorant. When gum ammoniac is distilled, it yields a liquid, oil of ammoniac.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

More on ammoniac from Fact Monster:

  • gum ammoniac - gum ammoniac: gum ammoniac: see ammoniac.
  • sal ammoniac - sal ammoniac: sal ammoniac: see ammonium chloride.
  • ammonium chloride - ammonium chloride ammonium chloride , chemical compound, NH4Cl, a white or colorless, odorless, ...
  • gum, colloidal plant substance - gum gum, term commonly applied to any of a wide variety of colloidal substances somewhat similar in ...
  • halogen - halogen halogen [Gr.,=salt-bearing], any of the chemically active elements found in Group 17 of the ...

See more Encyclopedia articles on: Organic Chemistry