Poor emaciated in compound (9)
I believe the answer is:
acetamide
'compound' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'poor emaciated' is the wordplay.
'poor' is an anagram indicator.
'emaciated' is an anagram of 'ACETAMIDE'.
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for acetamide that I've seen before include "Musty-smelling crystalline solid (chemistry), emaciated (anag.)" , "Organic compound" , "Chemical" .)