Ammonium oxalate is a

chemical compound A chemical compound is a chemical substance composed of many identical molecules (or molecular entities) containing atoms from more than one chemical element held together by chemical bonds. A molecule consisting of atoms of only one element ...

with the

chemical formula A chemical formula is a way of presenting information about the chemical proportions of atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound or molecule, using chemical element symbols, numbers, and sometimes also other symbols, such as pare ...

. Its formula is often written as or . It is an

ammonium Ammonium is a modified form of ammonia that has an extra hydrogen atom. It is a positively charged (cationic) polyatomic ion, molecular ion with the chemical formula or . It is formed by the protonation, addition of a proton (a hydrogen nucleu ...

salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

of oxalic acid. It consists of ammonium cations () and oxalate anions (). The structure of ammonium oxalate is . Ammonium oxalate sometimes comes as a monohydrate (). It is a colorless or white salt under standard conditions and is odorless and non-volatile. It occurs in many plants and vegetables.

Vertebrate

It is produced in the body of

vertebrate Vertebrates () are animals with a vertebral column (backbone or spine), and a cranium, or skull. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain. The vertebrates make up the subphylum Vertebra ...

s by

metabolism Metabolism (, from ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run cellular processes; the co ...

glyoxylic acid Glyoxylic acid or oxoacetic acid is an organic compound. Together with acetic acid, glycolic acid, and oxalic acid, glyoxylic acid is one of the C2 carboxylic acids. It is a colourless solid that occurs naturally and is useful industrially. Str ...

or ascorbic acid. It is not metabolized but excreted in the urine.National Center for Biotechnology Information. PubChem Compound Database
CID 14213
(accessed 15 November 2016). It is a constituent of some types of kidney stone. It is also found in guano.

Mineralogy

Oxammite is a natural mineral form of ammonium oxalate. This mineral is extremely rare. It is an organic mineral derived from guano.

Chemistry

Ammonium oxalate is used as an analytical reagent and general reducing agent. It and other oxalates are used as

anticoagulant An anticoagulant, commonly known as a blood thinner, is a chemical substance that prevents or reduces the coagulation of blood, prolonging the clotting time. Some occur naturally in blood-eating animals, such as leeches and mosquitoes, which ...

s, to preserve blood outside the body.

Earth sciences

Acid ammonium oxalate (ammonium oxalate acidified to pH 3 with oxalic acid) is commonly employed in soil chemical analysis to extract

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

and

aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

from poorly-crystalline minerals (such as ferrihydrite), iron(II)-bearing minerals (such as

magnetite Magnetite is a mineral and one of the main iron ores, with the chemical formula . It is one of the iron oxide, oxides of iron, and is ferrimagnetism, ferrimagnetic; it is attracted to a magnet and can be magnetization, magnetized to become a ...

) and organic matter.

References

{{Oxalates Ammonium compounds Anticoagulants Oxalates