👉 In chemistry, a heterocaryon is an element that can form three distinct compounds with each other. These are called heterocycles. For example, nitrogen (N) can form two different nitrogen dioxide compounds (N2O and N2O4), and carbon (C) can form two different carbonyls (C=O and C=C). The term "heterocaryon" refers to the fact that each of these elements has three distinct compounds with one another.
