# Caffeine's real name? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 5, 2008, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeines-real-name/432444 "2008-01-05T22:41:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeines-real-name/432444/21 "2008-01-07T13:02:14Z")
The point is that to all intents and purposes, caffeine _is_ the proper chemical name. Chemicals have names that are approved by [IUPAC](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IUPAC_nomenclature_of_organic_chemistry) (the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) but the totally systematic rules are not necessarily followed when there is a common and unambiguous name for a chemical. “Acetone” is an accpetable name under IUPAC recommendations, and only the most picky scientists would use the systematic name for caffeine. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeines-real-name/432444/22 "2008-01-07T13:32:54Z")
In an Organic Chemistry lab, a young lady across the bench from me was shocked to find that the acetone she was using to dry her glassware was harming her manicure. Up until the point where somebody explained why, she seemed to be considering writing it up for _Nature_. Also, never store your ether in the refrigerator! ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeines-real-name/432444/23 "2008-01-07T13:44:38Z")
OK, I’ll bite. Why not? ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeines-real-name/432444/24 "2008-01-07T13:54:45Z")
If the container is not 100% airtight, evaporating ether leaks into the refrigerator. A spark from the condenser kicking on, and _KABOOM_. It has happened a few times over the years. ---
**Author:** ![DirkGntly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@DirkGntly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DirkGntly)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeines-real-name/432444/25 "2008-01-07T14:12:33Z")
[QUOTE=GameHat] Acetone crazes the typically polycarbonate goggles with a quickness. [/QUOTE] I love this - you talk like Captain Mal from Firefly. Where can I subscribe to your newsletter? ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeines-real-name/432444/26 "2008-01-07T14:15:22Z")
[QUOTE=Jinx] Curious about a “lose weight quick” fad product sold at the corner store, I was reading the ingredients. It was a cocktail of herbal extracts and such including caffeine. But, the caffeine was listed by some chemical name with caffeine in parentheses. Huh, I thought caffeine WAS the chemical name! You know, like acetone IS acetone! I’d have to go back and write down the lengthy name for caffeine, but in the meantime, can any SDopers explain the story here? Isn’t caffeine JUST caffeine? - Jinx [/QUOTE] There are lots of interesting little twists to this as well… There can be any number of different synonyms that refer to the same substance. There are four that I can think of right off the bat: [ul][li]A long hairy chemical name, based on the structure and naming conventions.[_]Common names, such as you already mentioned.[_]Marketing names, such as short drug names, trademarked by the individual manufacturers.[\*]Corporate compound identifiers, the letter and number codes used to identify compounds in the drug discovery pipeline.[/ul]And a compound can have multiple of any of these categories.[/li] For example, in R&D, each compound has a corporate compound identifier (typically a short corporate code followed by a number, such as “ABC-12345”). That seems unique enough, but then we find that there may be multiple corporate compound identifiers assigned to a compound, as a result of corporate mergers and acquisitions (ABC-12345 may be the same stuff as ZQ-76543). In the end, we often try to relate each name to a unique structure in order to identify synonyms, but even the structure gets kind of fuzzy: what about the salts that are present? How about the other components in a mixture of structures? ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeines-real-name/432444/27 "2008-01-07T15:38:18Z")
[QUOTE=rowrrbazzle] Acetone will dissolve a styrofoam cup quite rapidly. [/QUOTE] You can make napalm by dissolving styrofoam in gasoline. Takes a lot of styrofoam though. I learned something from the Jolly Roger Cookbook! ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeines-real-name/432444/28 "2008-01-07T16:17:07Z")
[QUOTE=Christopher] I think nail polish remover is usually ethyl acetate and that’s a pretty “meh” solvent as far as I know. Anyway, it sure smells like Ethyl Acetate. I used it for columns in the early part of my career, but later it was utterly useless for what I did. [/QUOTE] Well, in the [ingredients](http://www.drugstore.com/qxp54028_332828_sespider/cutex_quick_and_gentle/nail_polish_remover_strengthening.htm), acetone is always listed as the primarly ingredient and “non-dryng” nail polish removers are always touted as “acetone-free”. [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetone) says: > [@](#): > > The most familiar household use of acetone is as the active ingredient in nail polish remover. They wouldn’t list it as acetone if it wasn’t, would they? ---
**Author:** ![Solfy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Solfy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Solfy)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeines-real-name/432444/29 "2008-01-07T16:23:51Z")
[QUOTE=tremorviolet] Well, in the [ingredients](http://www.drugstore.com/qxp54028_332828_sespider/cutex_quick_and_gentle/nail_polish_remover_strengthening.htm), acetone is always listed as the primarly ingredient and “non-dryng” nail polish removers are always touted as “acetone-free”. [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetone) says: They wouldn’t list it as acetone if it wasn’t, would they? [/QUOTE] Extra cheap-o nail polish remover tends to be acetone based, while ethyl acetate is what you get in the ones that cost $.50 more per bottle and claim to be gentle and non-drying. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeines-real-name/432444/30 "2008-01-07T17:44:22Z")
According to Wikipedia [Ethyl Acetate](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethyl_Acetate) is also used. That would also be a drying formula, since ethyl acetate evaporates quite quickly. Obviously, I have only used the acetone free drying formulas since I am quite sure from the smell that it was ethyl acetate. ETA: I missunderstood what a drying formula was. EA is non-drying. ---
**Author:** ![stargazer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@stargazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stargazer)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeines-real-name/432444/31 "2008-01-07T20:32:55Z")
For the OP: was it [guarana](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guarana) ? I know that that’s appearing in more and more energy drinks, and it contains a lot of caffeine. From the Wiki link above, it looks like it is not actually caffeine, though, any more than coffee is caffeine. ---
**Author:** ![j\_sum1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8baadc/32.png) [@j\_sum1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_sum1)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeines-real-name/432444/32 "2008-01-08T01:26:44Z")
[QUOTE=Christopher] The official chemical term for caffeine is 1,3,7-trimethyl-1H-purine-2,6(3H,7H)-dione. But that’s a mouthfull even for chemists. Other possible names are 1,3,7-trimethylxanthine, trimethylxanthine, theine, and\*\* methyltheobromine\*\*. But even in a chemistry lab, anybody that calls it something other than caffeine is showing off. That is until you start derivitizing it. This information is brought to you by [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine). I could never figure out chemical nomenclature. [/QUOTE] I’m not much on chemical names either, but methyltheobromine sounds like it has a halogen in its structure. I’m pretty sure that caffeine doesn’t contain any bromine. So, is this nomenclature correct? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeines-real-name/432444/33 "2008-01-08T01:36:43Z")
[QUOTE=j\_sum1] I’m pretty sure that caffeine doesn’t contain any bromine. [/quote] It doesn’t. I have the chemical structure of caffeine on a t-shirt; yes, I am a geek–why do you ask? > [@](#): > > So, is this nomenclature correct? [Yes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theobromine). Despite the name, there are no halogens present. The name comes from a genus of plants, _Theobroma_, in which the chemical is found in high concentrations. ---
**Author:** ![tesseract](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@tesseract](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tesseract)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeines-real-name/432444/34 "2008-01-08T01:45:51Z")
I have a related question: Someone told me that the “caffeine” in tea “isn’t really caffeine” and that it is different from the caffeine in coffee. Is this true? Do I have to start a new thread for this? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeines-real-name/432444/35 "2008-01-08T01:53:18Z")
[QUOTE=tesseract] Someone told me that the “caffeine” in tea “isn’t really caffeine” and that it is different from the caffeine in coffee. Is this true? [/QUOTE] No. The caffeine in coffee is identical to the caffeine in tea; only the concentration differs. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeines-real-name/432444/36 "2008-01-08T02:16:15Z")
[QUOTE=tesseract] I have a related question: Someone told me that the “caffeine” in tea “isn’t really caffeine” and that it is different from the caffeine in coffee. Is this true? Do I have to start a new thread for this? [/QUOTE] Tea is higher in theophylline, a substance that also excites the CNS. Maybe that’s what they’re talking about? ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeines-real-name/432444/37 "2008-01-08T02:46:44Z")
[QUOTE=j sum1] I’m not much on chemical names either, but methyltheobromine sounds like it has a halogen in its structure. I’m pretty sure that caffeine doesn’t contain any bromine. So, is this nomenclature correct? [/QUOTE] Strange, that didn’t occur to me. I simply assumed the name was derived from [theobromine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theobromine) which is one of the components of chocolate. I never wondered why the name had bromine in it. Fluorene doesn’t have a fluorine atom in it, so I just figured theobromine was similar. It’s pretty interesting to compare the structures of theophyllin, caffeine and theobromine right next to each other. They all differ by the simple placement of methyl groups. As you would expect, they have similar effects on the body, but not quite the same effects. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeines-real-name/432444/38 "2008-01-08T15:04:01Z")
Theobromine comes from _Theobroma_, the Latin name for the cacao tree, meaning “food of the gods”. No bromine involved. (Unless you’re in the army 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![ragerdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d07c76/32.png) [@ragerdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ragerdude)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2008, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeines-real-name/432444/39 "2008-01-09T19:05:14Z")
I think it is probably not redundant – it is perhaps some natural product that **contains** caffeine. For example, I’ve seen: Guarana (caffeine) meaning that the ingredient is the natural herb guarana, and that they put guarana in the product because guarana is source of caffeine. Guarana is not a chemical name – it is not synonymous with refined caffeine (which some products use). ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2008, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeines-real-name/432444/40 "2008-01-09T21:06:58Z")
I can’t believe in this entire thread no one has answered the OP. Caffeine’s real name is **Joseph M. Java**. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeines-real-name/432444.md?page=1)