Illustrated Glossary of Organic Chemistry

Hetero cycle: A molecule containing one or more rings of atoms, of which at least one atom is a heteroatom.

Example Molecules Which Contain Hetero cycles
Heterocyclic ring shown in red


β-D-2-Deoxy ribofuranose A tetrahydrofuran carbohydrate in DNA		Histidine An imidazole amino acid		Caffeine A purine		Nicotine A pyridine (in red) and a pyrrolidine (in blue)