Mellitic anhydride, the
anhydride
An organic acid anhydride is an acid anhydride that is an organic compound. An acid anhydride is a compound that has two acyl groups bonded to the same oxygen atom. A common type of organic acid anhydride is a carboxylic anhydride, where the pa ...
of
mellitic acid
Mellitic acid, also called graphitic acid or benzenehexacarboxylic acid, is an acid first discovered in 1799 by Martin Heinrich Klaproth in the mineral mellite (honeystone), which is the aluminium salt of the acid. It crystallizes in fine silky ne ...
, is an
organic compound
In chemistry, organic compounds are generally any chemical compounds that contain carbon-hydrogen or carbon-carbon bonds. Due to carbon's ability to catenate (form chains with other carbon atoms), millions of organic compounds are known. Th ...
with the formula C
12O
9.
Containing no other elements (e.g., hydrogen) besides carbon and oxygen, mellitic anhydride is an
oxide
An oxide () is a chemical compound that contains at least one oxygen atom and one other element in its chemical formula. "Oxide" itself is the dianion of oxygen, an O2– (molecular) ion. with oxygen in the oxidation state of −2. Most of the E ...
of
carbon
Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent—its atom making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds. It belongs to group 14 of the periodic table. Carbon ma ...
(
oxocarbon
In chemistry, an oxocarbon or oxide of carbon is a chemical compound consisting only of carbon and oxygen. The simplest and most common oxocarbons are carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (). Many other stable (practically if not thermodynamica ...
), and, along with
CO2,
CO, and
C3O2, is one of the only four that are reasonably stable under standard conditions. It is a white sublimable solid, apparently obtained by
Justus Liebig
Justus Freiherr von Liebig (12 May 1803 – 20 April 1873) was a German scientist who made major contributions to agricultural and biological chemistry, and is considered one of the principal founders of organic chemistry. As a professor at the ...
and
Friedrich Wöhler
Friedrich Wöhler () FRS(For) Hon FRSE (31 July 180023 September 1882) was a German chemist known for his work in inorganic chemistry, being the first to isolate the chemical elements beryllium and yttrium in pure metallic form. He was the fi ...
in 1830 in their study of
mellite
Mellite, also called honeystone, is an unusual mineral being also an organic chemical. It is chemically identified as an aluminium salt of mellitic acid, and specifically as aluminium benzene hexacarboxylate hydrate, with the chemical formula Al ...
("honey stone") and has the
empirical formula
In chemistry, the empirical formula of a chemical compound is the simplest whole number ratio of atoms present in a compound. A simple example of this concept is that the empirical formula of sulfur monoxide, or SO, would simply be SO, as is the ...
C
4O
3. The substance was properly characterized in 1913 by H. Meyer and K. Steiner. It retains the aromatic character of the benzene ring.
References
Phthalic anhydrides
Oxocarbons
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