In organic chemistry, a dicarbonate is a compound containing the divalent [-O-(C=O)-O-(C=O)-O-] or C2O52• functional group, which consists of two carbonate groups sharing an oxygen atom. These compounds can be viewed as double esters of a hypothetical dicarbonic acid, H2C2O5 or HO-(C=O)-O-(C=O)-OH. Two important examples are dimethyl dicarbonate H3C-C2O5-CH3 and di-tert-butyl dicarbonate (H3C-)3C-C2O5-C(-CH3)3.
In inorganic chemistry, dicarbonate is the divalent anion C2O2−
5 or [O-(C=O)-O-(C=O)-O]2−, or any salt containing the same. It is one of the oxocarbon anions, consisting solely of oxygen and carbon. Dicarbonate salts are apparently unstable but may have a fleeting existence in carbonate solutions.[1]>
The term "dicarbonate" is sometimes used erroneously to refer to bicarbonate, the common name of the hydrogencarbonate anion [HCO3]− or organic group [HCO3-].
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