Organic Chemical
purine Audio
pu·rine [ pyoor-een, -in ]
Subclass of:
Heterocyclic Compounds, 2-Ring
Definitions related to purines:
  • Bicyclic ring structure consisting of fused imidazole and pyrimidine rings, with nitrogen atoms at the 1,3,7, and 9 positions; the basic structure of adenine, guanine, and other biologically important bases.
    CRISP Thesaurus
    National Institutes of Health, 2006
  • A series of heterocyclic compounds that are variously substituted in nature and are known also as purine bases. They include ADENINE and GUANINE, constituents of nucleic acids, as well as many alkaloids such as CAFFEINE and THEOPHYLLINE. Uric acid is the metabolic end product of purine metabolism.
    NLM Medical Subject Headings
    U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2025
  • Purine, any of a class of organic compounds of the heterocyclic series characterized by a two-ringed structure composed of carbon and nitrogen atoms. The simplest of the purine family is purine itself, a compound with a molecular formula C5H4N4. Purine is not common, but the purine structure...
    Encyclopedia Britannica
    Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 2025
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