Tricarboxylic acid

A tricarboxylic acid is an organic carboxylic acid whose chemical structure contains three carboxyl functional groups (−COOH). The best-known example of a tricarboxylic acid is citric acid.

Uses

Citric acid cycle

Main article: Citric acid cycle

Citric acid, a type of tricarboxylic acid, is used in the citric acid cycle – also known as tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle or Krebs cycle – which is fundamental to all aerobic organisms.

Examples

Common name	IUPAC name	Molecular formula	Structural formula
citric acid	2-hydroxypropane-1,2,3-tricarboxylic acid	C6H8O7
isocitric acid	1-hydroxypropane-1,2,3-tricarboxylic acid	C6H8O7
aconitic acid	prop-1-ene-1,2,3-tricarboxylic acid	C6H6O6	(cis-form and trans-form)
propane-1,2,3-tricarboxylic acid	propane-1,2,3-tricarboxylic acid	C3H5(COOH)3
agaric acid	2-hydroxynonadecane-1,2,3-tricarboxylic acid	C22H40O7
trimesic acid	benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylic acid	C9H6O6

See also

• Citric acid cycle (tricarboxylic acid cycle)
• Dicarboxylic acid
• Mellitic acid

Literature

• Ryan J. Mailloux, Robin Bériault, Joseph Lemire, Ranji Singh, Daniel R. Chénier, Robert D. Hamel, Vasu D. Appanna (2007). "The Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle, an Ancient Metabolic Network with a Novel Twist". PLOS ONE. 2 (8): e690. Bibcode:2007PLoSO...2..690M. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0000690. PMC 1930152. PMID 17668068.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)