Tricarbonate (original) (raw)

In organic chemistry, a tricarbonate is a compound containing the divalent [–O–(C=O)–O–(C=O)–O–(C=O)–O–] functional group, which consists of three carbonate groups in tandem, sharing two oxygen atoms. These compounds can be viewed as double esters of a hypothetical tricarbonic acid, HO–(C=O)–O–(C=O)–O–(C=O)–OH. An important example is (H3C–)3C–C3O7–C(–CH3)3, a chemical reagent (colorless prisms that melt at 62–63 °C with decomposition, soluble in pentane).