Ethylene dione

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Ethylene dione
Ethylene dione molecule spacefill.png
Ethylene-dione-3D-balls.png
Names
IUPAC name
Ethene-1,2-dione
Systematic IUPAC name
Ethenedione
Other names
    • Dicarbon dioxide
    • Dimeric carbon monoxide
    • Dimeric carbonous oxide
    • Dimeric carbon(II) oxide
    • Ethylenedione
    • Oxygen percarbide
Identifiers
3D model (JSmol)
ChemSpider
PubChem CID
UNII
  • InChI=1S/C2O2/c3-1-2-4
    Key: FONOSWYYBCBQGN-UHFFFAOYSA-N
  • O=C=C=O
Properties
C2O2
Molar mass 56.020 g·mol−1
Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa).

Ethylene dione or ethylenedione, also called dicarbon dioxide, Carbon peroxide, ethenedione, or ethene-1,2-dione, is a chemical compound with the formula C2O2 or O=C=C=O. It is an oxide of carbon (an oxocarbon), and can be described as the carbon-carbon covalent dimer of carbon monoxide. [1] It can also be thought of as the dehydrated form of glyoxylic acid (H(C=O)COOH), or a ketone of ethenone H2C=C=O.

Contents

Synthesis attempts

The existence of ethylenedione was first suggested in 1913. [2] However, for over a century the compound had eluded all attempts to synthesize and observe it, and it came to be considered a purely hypothetical compound, or at best an "exceedingly coy molecule". [3]

In 2015, a research group reported the creation of ethylenedione — by using laser light to eject an electron from the corresponding stable singly-charged anion C2O2 — and its spectroscopic characterization. [4] However, the reported spectrum was later found to match that of the oxyallyl diradical, (H2C)2CO, formed by rearrangement or disproportionation under the high-energy experimental conditions rather than simple electron loss. [5]

Theoretical investigations

Despite the existence of the closed-shell Kekulé structure, O=C=C=O, the lowest bound state of ethyledione is a triplet. It would then be a diradical, with an electronic structure motif similar to the oxygen molecule. However, when the molecule is distorted away from its equilibrium geometry, the potential surfaces of the triplet and singlet states intersect, allowing for intersystem crossing to the singlet state, which is unbound and dissociates to two ground-state CO molecules. The timescale of the intersystem crossing was predicted to be 0.5 ns, [6] making triplet ethylenedione a transient, yet spectroscopically long-lived molecule.

On the other hand, the monoanion of ethylenedione, OCCO, as well as the dianion C
2
O2−
2
, called acetylenediolate, are both stable. [7] [8]

Recent theoretical computations suggest that the in situ preparation and characterization of ethylenedione may be possible through low-energy free-electron induced single-molecule engineering. [1]

Koch's glyoxylide

In the 1940s, Detroit physician William Frederick Koch claimed that he had synthesized this compound, which he called glyoxylide, and that it was an antidote to the toxins that caused a long list of ailments, including diabetes and cancer. The claims were false and the drug was classified as a fraud by the FDA. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

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Cubane is a synthetic hydrocarbon compound with the formula C8H8, and that consists of eight carbon atoms arranged at the corners of a cube, with one hydrogen atom attached to each carbon atom. A solid crystalline substance, cubane is one of the Platonic hydrocarbons and a member of the prismanes. It was first synthesized in 1964 by Philip Eaton and Thomas Cole. Before this work, Eaton believed that cubane would be impossible to synthesize due to the "required 90 degree bond angles". The cubic shape requires the carbon atoms to adopt an unusually sharp 90° bonding angle, which would be highly strained as compared to the 109.45° angle of a tetrahedral carbon. Once formed, cubane is quite kinetically stable, due to a lack of readily available decomposition paths. It is the simplest hydrocarbon with octahedral symmetry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyclobutadiene</span> Chemical compound

Cyclobutadiene is an organic compound with the formula C4H4. It is very reactive owing to its tendency to dimerize. Although the parent compound has not been isolated, some substituted derivatives are robust and a single molecule of cyclobutadiene is quite stable. Since the compound degrades by a bimolecular process, the species can be observed by matrix isolation techniques at temperatures below 35 K. It is thought to adopt a rectangular structure.

In organic chemistry, a carbene is a molecule containing a neutral carbon atom with a valence of two and two unshared valence electrons. The general formula is R−:C−R' or R=C: where the R represents substituents or hydrogen atoms.

A non-Kekulé molecule is a conjugated hydrocarbon that cannot be assigned a classical Kekulé structure.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atomic carbon</span> Chemical compound

Atomic carbon, systematically named carbon and λ0-methane, is a colourless gaseous inorganic chemical with the chemical formula C. It is kinetically unstable at ambient temperature and pressure, being removed through autopolymerisation.

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In chemistry, an oxocarbon or oxide of carbon is a chemical compound consisting only of carbon and oxygen. The simplest and most common oxocarbons are carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide. Many other stable or metastable oxides of carbon are known, but they are rarely encountered, such as carbon suboxide and mellitic anhydride.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radical (chemistry)</span> Atom, molecule, or ion that has an unpaired valence electron; typically highly reactive

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pentacarbon dioxide</span> Chemical compound

Pentacarbon dioxide, officially penta-1,2,3,4-tetraene-1,5-dione, is an oxide of carbon (an oxocarbon) with formula C5O2 or O=C=C=C=C=C=O.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tetracarbon dioxide</span> Chemical compound

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyclobutanetetrone</span> Chemical compound

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peroxydicarbonate</span>

In chemistry, peroxydicarbonate is a divalent anion with the chemical formula C
2
O2−
6
. It is one of the oxocarbon anions, which consist solely of carbon and oxygen. Its molecular structure can be viewed as two carbonate anions joined so as to form a peroxide bridge –O–O–.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Borylene</span>

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References

  1. 1 2 Davis, Daly; Sajeev, Y. (2017-02-22). "Communication: Low-energy free-electron driven molecular engineering: In situ preparation of intrinsically short-lived carbon-carbon covalent dimer of CO". The Journal of Chemical Physics. 146 (8): 081101. Bibcode:2017JChPh.146h1101D. doi: 10.1063/1.4976969 . ISSN   0021-9606. PMID   28249449.
  2. H. Staudinger, E. Anthes, Ber. Dtsch. Chem. Ges. 1913, 46, 1426.
  3. Lewars, Errol (2008), "9 – Ethenedione C2O2", Modeling Marvels, Springer, Bibcode:2008moma.book.....L
  4. Andew R. Dixon, Tian Xue and Andrei Sanov (2015): "Spectroscopy of Ethylenedione", Angewandte Chemie, International Edition, volume 54, issue 30, pages 8764-8767, doi : 10.1002/anie.201503423.
  5. Katharine G. Lunny, Yanice Benitez, Yishai Albeck, Daniel Strasser, John F. Stanton, Robert E. Continetti (2018): "Spectroscopy of Ethylenedione and Ethynediolide: A Reinvestigation". Angewandte Chemie, International Edition, volume 57, issue 19, pages 5394-5397. doi : 10.1002/anie.201801848
  6. D. Schröder, C. Heinemann, H. Schwarz, J. N. Harvey, S. Dua, S. J. Blanksby, and John, H. Bowie, "Ethylenedione: An Intrinsically Short-Lived Molecule", Chem. Eur. J., 4, 2550-2557 (1998).
  7. J. R. Thomas, B. J. DeLeeuw, P. O’Leary, H. F. Schaefer III, B. J. Duke, B. O’Leary "The ethylenedione anion: Elucidation of the intricate potential energy hypersurface", J. Chem. Phys, 102, 6525-6536(1995).
  8. P. Pyykkö and N. Runeberg, "Ab initio studies of bonding trends: Part 8. The 26-electron A≡B-C≡Dn and the 30-electron A=B=C=Dn systems", J. Mol. Struct. THEOCHEM, 234, 269-277(1991).
  9. Goodrich, William W. (October 15–16, 1986). "FDA Oral History Interview, Goodrich" (PDF) (Interview). Interviewed by Ronald T. Ottes and Fred L. Lofsvold. p. 31.