Didesmethyl
Didesmethyl is a chemical term used to describe a compound that has two methyl groups removed from a related parent molecule. The prefix di- signals two, while des- indicates removal, and methyl refers to the methyl substituent (CH3). In practice, didesmethyl is used as part of the systematic name for derivatives or metabolites rather than as a stand-alone substance. The exact structure of a didesmethyl compound depends on which two methyl groups have been removed and from which positions, producing one or more possible isomers.
Formation and occurrence of didesmethyl derivatives typically arise through demethylation in biological systems or can be
Analytical and naming considerations: In chemical databases and literature, didesmethyl is used to denote double demethylation
See also: demethylation; O-demethylation; N-demethylation; methyl group.