Tartronic acid or 2-hydroxymalonic acid is an organic compound with the

structural formula The structural formula of a chemical compound is a graphic representation of the molecular structure (determined by structural chemistry methods), showing how the atoms are possibly arranged in the real three-dimensional space. The chemical bondi ...

of HOHC(CO₂H)₂. This dicarboxylic acid is related to malonic acid. Its derivative, 2-methyltartronic acid, is isomalic acid.

Uses

Tartronic acid is best known as a reactant in the

catalytic oxidation Catalytic oxidation are processes that rely on catalysts to introduce oxygen into organic and inorganic compounds. Many applications, including the focus of this article, involve oxidation by oxygen. Such processes are conducted on a large scale ...

with air to form

mesoxalic acid Mesoxalic acid, also called oxomalonic acid or ketomalonic acid, is an organic compound with formula C3H2O5 or HO−(C=O)3−OH. Mesoxalic acid is both a dicarboxylic acid and a ketonic acid. It readily loses two protons to yield the divalent ...

, the simplest oxodicarboxylic acid.

References

External links

* US-Patent 4319045
"Process for production of a tartronic acid solution", max 20% Tartronic acid besides other dicarbonic acids
* US-Patent 5750037
Use of tartronic acid as an oxygen scavenger

Literature overview about synthesis
Dicarboxylic acids Alpha hydroxy acids {{organic-compound-stub