Oxocarbon

In chemistry, an oxocarbon or oxide of carbon is a chemical compound consisting only of carbon and oxygen.^[1]^[2] The simplest and most common oxocarbons are carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO₂). Many other stable (practically if not thermodynamically) or metastable oxides of carbon are known, but they are rarely encountered, such as carbon suboxide (C₃O₂ or O=C=C=C=O) and mellitic anhydride (C₁₂O₉).


	CO Carbon monoxide		CO₂ Carbon dioxide		C₃O₂ Carbon suboxide		C₁₂O₉ Mellitic anhydride

Many other oxides are known today, most of them synthesized since the 1960s. Some of these new oxides are stable at room temperature. Some are metastable or stable only at very low temperatures, but decompose to simpler oxocarbons when warmed. Many are inherently unstable and can be observed only momentarily as intermediates in chemical reactions or are so reactive that they exist only in gas phase or have only been detected by matrix isolation.

Graphene oxide and other stable polymeric carbon oxides with unbounded molecular structures exist.^[3]^[4]

^ IUPAC, Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. (the "Gold Book") (1997). Online corrected version: (1995) "Oxocarbons". doi:10.1351/goldbook.O04375
^ West, R. (ed.) (1980), Oxocarbons. Academic Press, New York.
^ Cite error: The named reference hummers was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference snow was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[1] IUPAC, Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. (the "Gold Book") (1997). Online corrected version: (1995) "Oxocarbons". doi:10.1351/goldbook.O04375

[2] West, R. (ed.) (1980), Oxocarbons. Academic Press, New York.

[hummers-3] Cite error: The named reference hummers was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[snow-4] Cite error: The named reference snow was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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