Octane
Octane is a straight-chain alkane with the chemical formula CH3(CH2)6CH3.
Octane has 18 structural isomers (25 including stereoisomers): Octane (n-octane)
2-Methylheptane
3-Methylheptane (2 enantiomers)
4-Methylheptane
3-Ethylhexane
2,2-Dimethylhexane
2,3-Dimethylhexane (2 enantiomers)
2,4-Dimethylhexane (2 enantiomers)
2,5-Dimethylhexane
3,3-Dimethylhexane
3,4-Dimethylhexane (2 enantiomers + 1 meso compound)
3-Ethyl-2-methylpentane (2 enantiomers)
3-Ethyl-3-methylpentane
2,2,3-Trimethylpentane (2 enantiomers)
2,2,4-Trimethylpentane (isooctane)
2,3,3-Trimethylpentane
2,3,4-Trimethylpentane
2,2,3,3-Tetramethylbutane
Metaphorical use
Octane became well-known in American popular culture in the mid- and late-sixties, when gasoline companies boasted of "high octane" levels in their gasoline on television commercials. These commercials are referring to the octane rating, which is a measure for the anti-knocking properties of gasoline. The octane rating is not related to the amount of octane contained in the gasoline.
These commercials had disappeared by the time of the 1973 Oil Crisis, which spared gasoline companies the need to compete via advertising. "Octane" was rarely cited in non-technical contexts over the next two decades.
The compound adjective "high-octane" was apparently first used in its figurative sense (i.e. without reference to gasoline) in a book review of Michael Crichton's novel Jurassic Park (1990), which appeared in the newspaper New York Newsday. The review, by Gregory Feeley, called the novel "intellectually provocative, high-octane entertainment," and was quoted the following year in the front matter of the novel's paperback edition, which sold more than 15 million copies in the United States. By the mid-nineties, the phrase was commonly being used to as an intensifier, and (despite the paucity of references to octane in any other context) has apparently found a place in modern English vernacular.
Translation
The word "Octane" occurs as such in the following languages: English, French, Simple English.
Translation(s) in other languages: Arabic: أوكتان, Bosnian: Oktan, Catalan: Octà, Danish: Octan, German: Octan, Spanish: Octano, Esperanto: Oktano, Korean: 옥테인, Hindi: ऑक्टेन, Kurdish: Oktan, Latvian: Oktāns, Hungarian: Oktán, Dutch: Octaan, Japanese: オクタン, Norwegian (Bokmål): Oktan, Piedmontese: Otan, Polish: Oktan, Portuguese: Octano, Russian: Октан, Serbian: Октан, Finnish: Oktaani (kemia), Swedish: Oktan, Tagalog: Oktano, Vietnamese: Octan, Turkish: Oktan, Chinese: 辛烷.
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