Oxalic anhydride or ethanedioic anhydride, also called oxiranedione, is a hypothetical

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. T ...

, one of several isomers having the formula C₂O₃ that have been studied computationally. It can be viewed as 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 oxalic acid or the two-fold ketone of

ethylene oxide Ethylene oxide is an organic compound with the formula . It is a cyclic ether and the simplest epoxide: a three-membered ring consisting of one oxygen atom and two carbon atoms. Ethylene oxide is a colorless and flammable gas with a faintly sw ...

. It is an oxide 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 mak ...

(an

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 ...

). The simple compound apparently has yet to be observed (as of 2009). In 1998, however, Paolo Strazzolini and others have claimed the synthesis of

dioxane tetraketone Dioxane tetraketone (or 1,4-dioxane-2,3,5,6-tetrone) is an organic compound with the formula C4O6. It is an oxide of carbon (an oxocarbon), which can be viewed as the fourfold ketone of dioxane. It can also be viewed as the cyclic dimer of oxi ...

(C₄O₆), which can be viewed as the cyclic dimer of oxalic anhydride. It has been conjectured to be a fleeting intermediate in the

thermal decomposition Thermal decomposition, or thermolysis, is a chemical decomposition caused by heat. The decomposition temperature of a substance is the temperature at which the substance chemically decomposes. The reaction is usually endothermic as heat is re ...

of certain

oxalate Oxalate (IUPAC: ethanedioate) is an anion with the formula C2O42−. This dianion is colorless. It occurs naturally, including in some foods. It forms a variety of salts, for example sodium oxalate (Na2C2O4), and several esters such as dimethyl ...

s and certain chemoluminescent reactions of

oxalyl chloride Oxalyl chloride is an organic chemical compound with the formula (COCl)2. This colorless, sharp-smelling liquid, the diacyl chloride of oxalic acid, is a useful reagent in organic synthesis. Preparation Oxalyl chloride was first prepared in 1892 ...

References

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* Carboxylic anhydrides Hypothetical chemical compounds Oxocarbons Lactones Conjugated ketones {{Organic-compound-stub

See also

References

External links