organic chemistry Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms.Clayden, ...

, a tricarbonate is a compound containing the

divalent In chemistry, the valence (US spelling) or valency (British spelling) of an chemical element, element is the measure of its combining capacity with other atoms when it forms chemical compounds or molecules. Description The combining capacity, ...

functional group In organic chemistry, a functional group is a substituent or moiety in a molecule that causes the molecule's characteristic chemical reactions. The same functional group will undergo the same or similar chemical reactions regardless of the re ...

, which consists of three

carbonate A carbonate is a salt of carbonic acid (H2CO3), characterized by the presence of the carbonate ion, a polyatomic ion with the formula . The word ''carbonate'' may also refer to a carbonate ester, an organic compound containing the carbonate ...

groups in tandem, sharing two

oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as ...

atoms. These compounds can be viewed as double

ester In chemistry, an ester is a compound derived from an oxoacid (organic or inorganic) in which at least one hydroxyl group () is replaced by an alkoxy group (), as in the substitution reaction of a carboxylic acid and an alcohol. Glycerides a ...

s of a hypothetical tricarbonic acid, HO–(C=O)–O–(C=O)–O–(C=O)–OH. An important example is di-''tert''-butyl tricarbonate (H₃C–)₃C–C₃O₇–C(–CH₃)₃, a

chemical reagent In chemistry, a reagent ( ) or analytical reagent is a substance or compound added to a system to cause a chemical reaction, or test if one occurs. The terms ''reactant'' and ''reagent'' are often used interchangeably, but reactant specifies a ...

(colorless prisms that melt at 62–63 °C with decomposition, soluble in pentane).Barry M. Pope, Yutaka Yamamoto, and D. Stanley Tarbell (1977)
"Di-''tert''-Butyl Dicarbonate"
''Organic Syntheses'', Vol. 57, p.45; Coll. Vol. 6 (1988) p.418 The term "tricarbonate" is sometimes used for salts that contain three carbonate anions in their stoichiometric formula, such as cerium tricarbonate Ce₂(CO₃)₃.

References

Esters {{chem-stub

See also

References