Aza-

The prefix aza- is used in organic chemistry to form names of organic compounds where a carbon atom is replaced by a nitrogen atom. Sometimes a number between hyphens is inserted before it to state which atom the nitrogen atom replaces. It arose by shortening the word azote, which is an obsolete name for nitrogen in the English language and occurs in current French usage (L'azote), meaning "Nitrogen".

This prefix is part of the Hantzsch–Widman nomenclature.^[1]

Finasteride (left), is an aza analog of testosterone (right), with a carbon atom in position 4 (bottom left) replaced by a nitrogen atom.

References

1. ^ Principles of Chemical Nomenclature, by G.J.Leigh, H.A.Favre and W.W.Metanomski, at http://old.iupac.org, Table 4.8

See also

• IUPAC nomenclature of organic chemistry