What does alane mean?
Alane is the common chemical name for aluminium hydride, AlH3, a white crystalline solid composed of aluminium and hydrogen. It belongs to the family of covalent hydrides that includes borane (BH3) and gallane (GaH3), and it is valued in synthetic organic chemistry as an exceptionally strong reducing agent, capable of converting esters, carboxylic acids, and amides into alcohols or amines. Because it is unstable and can decompose, alane is typically generated in situ and handled under inert conditions. The name follows the '-ane' naming convention borrowed from hydrocarbon chemistry, which makes the word sound deceptively familiar to non-chemists. Outside laboratory and technical contexts, alane is essentially unknown, so encountering it usually signals a specialized scientific register rather than general English usage.
nounAlane is aluminium hydride (AlH3), a white crystalline solid used as a powerful reducing agent in organic chemistry.
- As a chemical term: aluminium hydride (AlH3), a covalent hydride of aluminium used as a strong reducing agent.
"The chemist added alane to the reaction flask to reduce the ester to an alcohol."
"Alane reduces carboxylic acids all the way down to primary alcohols under mild conditions."
"Because alane decomposes readily, it must be handled under an inert atmosphere."
Despite sounding like a word for a country lane, alane is actually a reactive aluminium-hydrogen compound chemists use to strip oxygen from molecules.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of alane
The name alane was coined by analogy with borane, the established name for boron hydride (BH3), by replacing the element prefix to denote the corresponding aluminium hydride (AlH3). It thus follows the '-ane' suffix pattern familiar from hydrocarbon nomenclature, even though alane contains no carbon. The term arose within twentieth-century inorganic chemistry as chemists systematically studied the hydrides of the group 13 elements, giving parallel names such as borane, alane, and gallane.
How alane is actually used
Strictly a technical term confined to chemistry literature; it is not used in everyday speech. In American texts the element may be spelled 'aluminum', giving 'aluminum hydride' as an equivalent name.
Easily confused with alane
Alanine is an amino acid found in proteins, whereas alane is the inorganic compound aluminium hydride (AlH3).
An alkane is a saturated hydrocarbon such as methane or propane, while alane is aluminium hydride; the names merely share a similar ending.